BUFFALO, N.Y. — October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It's too encouraged for women to get screened, but what about men? Healthcare advocates say men hardly ever get screened for breast cancer.
Often, they will not know if they have it or not until it's too late.
That can be dangerous and sometimes deadly.
You never really hear about it because it's often associated with women. But it happens, affecting about 1% of men in the country, according to the CDC.
"It is very rare, yes. Men do not come for their annual screenings in October or any month at all," says Program Coordinator of ECMC's Mammography Coach Bus, Kelley Mazur.
The American Cancer Society reports about 3,000 men are diagnosed each year with breast cancer, and about 530 of those men will die.
"Women, it's kind of known that every year you come out for your annual mammogram. Men, it's more like you found something, you feel a lump. Like something's going on," Mazur
Whereas for women, testing is readily available with these screening machines. It's just that there isn't testing for us, fellas.
"They feel a lump or some skin changes, something else is going on, and then that becomes more of a diagnostic study workout, where they would do mammograms, ultrasounds to see what's going on," Mazur says.
The CDC says you may see a lump, but nipple discharge, sensitivity, and redness in the breast are also common signs.