Home › Screening › I found something
Screening & findings
I found a lump, or something changed
Choose the one that is closest to your situation. Each answer says what it usually means, what happens next and in what order, and what you can do tomorrow morning. Nothing you choose here is saved anywhere.
What brought you here?
A lump or a change
Most lumps are not cancer. Cysts, , and ordinary lumpy breast tissue are all more common than cancer, at every age. But nobody can tell which one you have by feel alone, including a surgeon, which is why the answer is always the same: have it looked at.
What happens next, in order. A clinician examines the breast and the armpit. Then imaging: a if you are 30 or older, and an , which is often done the same day. A radiologist usually reads the pictures while you wait. If the pictures are reassuring, that may be the end of it, or you may be asked to come back in six months for another look. If the pictures show something that needs an answer, the next step is a needle , described under If a biopsy is recommended.
Tomorrow morning. Call your primary care clinician or call this office at (208) 706-4650. You do not need a referral to ask the question. If your last period was within the past few weeks and the lump is tender, it is reasonable to see whether it changes after your next period, but a lump that is still there a few weeks later gets checked. A lump that is hard, does not move, or has skin changes over it gets checked now rather than later.
A lump is a question, not an answer. The appointment is how the question gets answered, and it usually gets answered in one visit.
Due for a mammogram
For women at average risk, the major guidelines now agree on starting by age 40. They differ on whether to go every year or every other year, and on when to stop. The screening page lays the four guidelines side by side, with the date each was checked, and it explains why they disagree.
What happens next. You can book a screening mammogram yourself at most imaging centers; a doctor's order is not always required in Idaho, but it is worth calling ahead to ask. The appointment takes about twenty minutes. Results usually arrive within a few days, by letter, phone call, or patient portal.
Tomorrow morning. Book it. If cost is what has been stopping you, the screening page lists the programs that cover mammograms in Idaho.
Called back
Being called back after a screening mammogram is common, and it usually means the radiologist wants a clearer picture of one area, not that they found a cancer. Most callbacks end with nothing wrong. The screening page explains what the callback appointment is like and what the BI-RADS number on your letter means.
What happens next. Extra mammogram views, often an ultrasound, and usually a radiologist reading them while you wait. You leave with one of three answers: nothing to worry about, come back in six months to check that it has not changed, or a biopsy is recommended.
Tomorrow morning. Take the earliest callback appointment offered. If a biopsy is recommended, read If a biopsy is recommended so you know what to expect.
Breast cancer in the family
A mother, sister, or daughter with breast cancer raises your own risk, and the picture matters: how many relatives, how old they were, whether any were men, and whether ovarian, pancreatic, or prostate cancer also runs in the family. Some of that pattern points to an inherited gene change such as . Most breast cancer, though, happens in people with no family history at all.
What happens next. A risk assessment, which is a conversation and a calculation rather than a test. If your lifetime risk comes out high, screening may start earlier and may add a yearly breast . If the family pattern suggests an inherited gene, you may be offered a visit with a and a blood or saliva test. The screening page covers higher-risk screening in more detail.
Tomorrow morning. Write down what you know about your relatives, on both sides of the family, and bring it to an appointment. High-risk monitoring is part of what this office does.
Family history is only one part of the picture. Most breast cancer happens in people who have none, so a clear family tree is never a reason to leave a change in your breast unchecked.
Breast pain
Breast pain on its own is rarely a sign of cancer. Pain that comes and goes with your cycle, or that affects both breasts, is almost always hormonal or muscular. Pain in one spot that stays put, or pain that comes with a lump, skin change, or nipple change, is worth an appointment.
What happens next. An exam, and imaging if there is anything to see on exam or if you are due for screening anyway.
Tomorrow morning. If the pain is in one place and has lasted more than a few weeks, call. If it comes and goes with your cycle, a well-fitted bra and over-the-counter pain relief are reasonable first steps, and you can raise it at your next routine visit.
Nipple discharge
Discharge that only appears when the nipple is squeezed, comes from both sides, and is milky, green, or yellow is usually not a cancer sign. Discharge that appears on its own, from one breast, from a single duct opening, and is clear or bloody is the kind that gets investigated. The most common cause of that pattern is a small , which is benign, but it is checked because it can look like something else.
What happens next. An exam, a mammogram and ultrasound, and sometimes a biopsy of the duct.
Tomorrow morning. Stop squeezing to check, because squeezing keeps discharge going. Note which side and what color, and call.
None of the situations above is an emergency on its own. A breast that has become red, hot, swollen, and painful over a few days can be an infection that needs antibiotics soon, so call for a same-day appointment or go to urgent care. Chest pain, trouble breathing, or fainting are 911 calls whatever else is going on.
Breast changes worth having checked
Most breast changes turn out to be harmless. Some are worth an appointment rather than a wait-and-see. Make one if you notice any of the following:
- A new lump or thickening in the breast or the armpit that does not come and go with your cycle
- A change in the size or shape of one breast
- Skin that is dimpling, puckering, or looks like orange peel
- Redness, warmth, or swelling of the breast, particularly if it comes on over weeks
- A nipple that has turned inward when it did not used to, or skin on the nipple that is scaling, itching, or crusting
- Nipple discharge that happens without squeezing, especially if it is bloody or comes from one side only
- Pain in one spot that does not settle
How to check your own breasts
Women save their own lives every day by finding their own cancers. If you do not know how to do a breast exam, the following steps will help you be more aware of your breasts, and you will find your own routine.
- Pick a time. If you still have periods, a few days after one ends, when breasts are least tender. Otherwise the same day each month is fine.
- Look. In a mirror, arms at your sides and then raised. You are looking for a change in size or shape, skin that dimples or puckers, or a nipple that has turned inward.
- Feel lying down. Lying flat spreads the tissue thin. Put one arm behind your head and use the pads of the three middle fingers of the other hand, not the tips.
- Cover the whole breast. Move in small circles with light, then medium, then firm pressure, in a pattern that covers everything from the collarbone to the bra line and from the breastbone into the armpit.
- Repeat in the shower. Wet skin makes it easier to feel. Same fingers, same pattern.
Breast tissue is naturally lumpy in places, especially toward the upper outer part near the armpit. What you are looking for is something that was not there before and does not go away. The anatomy page shows what you are actually feeling.
If a biopsy is recommended
A biopsy is how a question on a picture becomes an answer, and being told you need one is not the same as being told you have cancer. What a breast biopsy is like, how long results take, and what the four kinds of answer mean has its own page.
Where this comes from
The situations on this page are written in plain language from the current NCCN Guidelines for Patients: Invasive Breast Cancer (2026 edition, based on NCCN Guidelines for Breast Cancer version 2.2026), which Dr. Perkins shared as the reference for this page and which is free to read at NCCN.org/patientguidelines, along with NCCN's separate patient guides for DCIS and for metastatic breast cancer. NCCN's material is copyrighted and nothing here reproduces it; readers who want the full detail should go to the source. Breastcancer.org publishes a free guide to reading a pathology report, updated June 2026, at breastcancer.org/pathology-report. Margin definitions follow the Society of Surgical Oncology and American Society for Radiation Oncology consensus statements for invasive cancer (2014) and DCIS (2016). Receptor cutoffs follow the American Society of Clinical Oncology and College of American Pathologists guidelines. Staging follows the American Joint Committee on Cancer, eighth edition. Every clinical statement on this page is listed on the site's verification ledger. Dr. Perkins read the page and approved it on 13 September 2026.
This page is education. It does not diagnose, and the summary it builds is not a treatment plan. Your plan is made with your own care team from your own results.
Published 7 September 2026 as part of the guide; a page of its own since 9 September 2026; Dr. Perkins’ wording added 13 September 2026.