As breast cancer awareness messages circulate widely, some conversations have increasingly focused on breast massage and breast sucking, creating the impression that these practices could offer protection against the disease.
But breast cancer prevention and early detection require more than practices that attract attention on social media or in everyday conversations.
There is currently no established medical evidence that breast massage or breast sucking can prevent, detect or treat breast cancer.
Breast massage may have legitimate uses in specific medical or breastfeeding-related situations, but it should not be presented as a substitute for clinical assessment when a person notices an abnormal change in the breast.
Similarly, sexual stimulation of the breast, including sucking, should not be confused with breastfeeding, which has been associated with a reduced risk of developing breast cancer but is not a treatment for the disease.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says early detection depends on recognising possible warning signs, seeking medical advice, receiving appropriate clinical evaluation and obtaining timely treatment when cancer is diagnosed.
Warning signs can include a new lump or thickening, changes in breast size or shape, skin dimpling or redness, changes in the nipple and abnormal or bloody nipple discharge.
A person who notices such changes should therefore seek assessment from a qualified health professional rather than relying on massage or other home practices to determine whether the change is serious.
Guidance
WHO's Africa Regional Office recently issued guidance emphasising clinical breast assessment, timely referral, diagnosis and continuity of care as important parts of the response to suspected breast cancer in primary healthcare settings.
The distinction matters because many breast lumps are not cancerous, but a lump that is cancerous is more likely to be successfully treated when it is identified before the disease has spread.
Screening also has a role, although the appropriate approach depends on a person's age, risk and the health system in which they receive care, with mammography used as a screening method in appropriate populations.
Ghana's National Cancer Screening and Early Diagnosis Guidelines similarly state that breast self-examination is not a screening method, while encouraging breast awareness and prompt reporting of abnormalities, and noting that clinical examination and other diagnostic approaches do not replace mammography where screening is indicated.
The larger message for breast cancer awareness should therefore move beyond what people can do to the breast and focus more strongly on what they should do when something changes.
Knowing the signs, understanding personal risk, seeking professional assessment and completing recommended diagnostic and treatment pathways are interventions with a much clearer place in evidence-based breast cancer care.
Breast cancer awareness should not be measured by how loudly a particular practice is discussed, but by whether people recognise warning signs early and reach appropriate care without delay.
The writer is a Biochemistry and Molecular Biology student, University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), Ho.
