When it comes to breast cancer prevention, the risks you can’t control such as your age and genetic makeup may loom large. But there are some breast cancer prevention steps you can always take on your own. Although these measures provide no guarantee that you won’t develop the disease, they’ll give you a start toward breast cancer prevention. Breast cancer prevention begins with your own health habits.

Prevention
You can lower your risk of breast cancer by changing those risk factors that are under your control:
• Limit alcohol use.
• Exercise regularly and stay at a healthy weight.
• Breastfeeding for at least several months may also reduces cancer risk.
• Not using post-menopausal hormone therapy (PHT) can help lower your risk.
• Regular self-exams and check-ups by a doctor.

Symptoms
The widespread use of screening mammograms has increased the number of breast cancers found before they cause any symptoms, but some are still missed.
The most common sign of breast cancer is a new lump or mass. A lump that is painless, hard, and has uneven edges is more likely to be cancer. But some cancers are tender, soft, and rounded. So it’s important to have anything unusual checked by a doctor. Other signs of breast cancer include the following:
• swelling of all or part of the breast
• skin irritation or dimpling
• breast pain
• nipple pain or the nipple turning inward
• redness, scaliness, or thickening of the nipple or breast skin
• a nipple discharge other than breast milk
Sometimes breast cancer can spread to lymph nodes under the arm and cause a lump or swelling there, even before the tumor in the breast tissue is large enough to be felt.
If you have any symptoms that might be a sign of breast cancer, be sure see a doctor as soon as you can. After asking you some questions and doing a complete physical exam (including a clinical breast exam), your doctor may want to do more tests, such as those listed here.

Detection
The American Cancer Society recommends the following guidelines for finding breast cancer early in women without symptoms:
Mammogram: Women age 40 and older should have a screening mammogram every year and should keep on doing so for as long as they are in good health. While mammograms can miss some cancers, they are still a very good way to find breast cancer.
Clinical breast exam: Women in their 20s and 30s should have a clinical breast exam (CBE) as part of a regular exam by a health expert, at least every 3 years. After age 40, women should have a breast exam by a health expert every year. Women should report any changes in how their breasts look or feel to a health expert right away.
Research has shown that Breast Self Exam (BSE) plays a small role in finding breast cancer compared with finding a breast lump by chance or simply being aware of what is normal for each woman. If you decide to do BSE, you should have your doctor or nurse check your method to make sure you are doing it right.
Women at high risk: Women with a higher risk of breast cancer should talk with their doctor about the best screening plan for them. This might mean starting mammograms when they are younger, having extra screening tests (such as an MRI), or having exams more often.