Germana Carillo October is breast cancer awareness month: the aim is to raise public awareness of the disease, but education and, above all, early diagnosis are also factors that save lives. Here's a campaign that's brilliant
@Know Your Lemons
Know Your Lemons is one of those staunch campaigns in breast cancer awareness; it overthrows the barriers that have been in place, reminding women to keep their knowledge of symptoms well-informed without fear or hesitation. The campaign, which went viral in 2017, was created by the nonprofit Worldwide Breast Cancer, founded by Corrine Ellsworth Beaumont. It used 12 lemons as visual metaphors for common symptoms of breast cancer. It is even today a powerful poster; it shows, in a straightforward way, when one should consult a doctor.
While a firm lump deep in the body tissue is the most obvious sign of breast cancer, other symptoms sometimes occur. Mammograms are necessary because they can detect lumps before they can be felt. “Know your body and let the mammogram take care of the rest,” says designer Corrine Ellsworth Beaumont.
12lemons for 12 symptoms of breast cancer
In Know Your Lemons’ image, each of the 12 lemons illustrates a different possible warning sign for breast cancer:
@Know Your Lemons
- Thick Area: Localized skin thickening
- Dimple: Dimpling or skin retraction
- Nipple Crust: Crusting or skin lesions around the nipple
- Red or Hot: Redness or warmth on the skin
- New Fluid: Unexpected nipple discharge
- Skin Sores: Skin sores or irregularities
- Bump: External bump or deformity
- Growing Vein: Enlarging or prominent vein
- Sunken Nipple: nipple inversion
- New Shape/Size: swelling, dimpling, puckering of the skin, redness of the skin
- Orange Peel Skin: skin resembling an orange peel
- Hidden Lump: an under-the-skin lump, generally hard and immobile
Learn self-examination
The self-exams are very significant in early detection. Keep in mind the following fundamentals: A lump is not a cyst; it’s small, firm, and often about the size of a lemon seed, nor does it move.
All women should regularly check their breasts, preferably days after their menstrual cycle. She should lift one arm and work her fingers around the entire breast and underneath the armpit. The armpit is a significant point where the very initial stages of breast cancer can occur.
If you have any of these symptoms, you should speak with your doctor. They will most likely begin with a mammogram. Even without symptoms, however, regular mammograms are crucial, particularly after age 40, as your doctor advises.
Breast cancer in the United States: 2023 update
In 2023, an estimated 297,790 new cases of invasive breast cancer were diagnosed in women and 43,170 deaths in the United States. Today, other than skin cancer, it is the most common cancer diagnosis for women, and incidence rates have continued to increase each year by about 0.5 percent. Awareness and early detection are still the keys to preventing and fighting this common disease.
