The first symptom for about 80 percent of the women with breast cancer is a lump in the breast. Usually the lump is painless and difficult to feel. Eighty to 90 percent of women find the lump themselves during a breast self-exam. Sometimes the skin over the lump may be dimpled or creased. There may be a bloody discharge from the nipple or the nipple may start to turn inward.
Most breast cancer is found by women themselves while doing breast self-exams.
It is also found by doctors during routine physical exams and mammograms. You should have a mammogram every two years after age 40. When you turn 50 and thereafter, you should have a mammogram every year. If you are at high risk for breast cancer, you should start having mammograms at age 35 or earlier. Other tests that help the doctor confirm that a lump in the breast is cancerous are a CT scan, an ultrasound, and a breast biopsy.