Original subtitles

Young women are becoming increasingly body conscious.

But do they really know how healthy they are?

Dr. Don Harper has come to Birmingham Uni.

and is planning to give the hockey team what could be a life-saving lesson.

You guys are really fit.

That was great. I'm sure your hearts are in fantastic health. But I want to talk

to you about your breast health.

How about we go into the changing room and I'll talk you to what you should be

doing. Believe me, I have seen more breasts than Casanova, so there's

nothing to be embarrassed about.

It's advisable to check breasts from the age of 20 so that you know what's normal

for you and will quickly spot any changes.

What we're going to do today is talk about breast examination and why it's

important.

And it is important because over 40,000 women in the UK are diagnosed with

breast cancer each year. The good news is we know that the sooner breast cancer

is picked up, the better the outlook. And we can reduce the death rate by

about 25% just by picking it up early. And interestingly, 8 out of 10 breast

cancers are picked up.

by women or their partners, not by mammograms, not by doctors.

Has anybody ever been taught how to examine their own breasts?

No.

What I'd really like is if one of you guys would just volunteer for me to show

you all what you should be doing.

Thank you.

Are you happy with that? Yeah. Are you sure?

OK.

You use the palm of your hand, and are you okay about this? You basically just

roll the breast tissue up over itself.

And if you kind of work your way around like this, you won't miss parts of the

boob. If you were to go prodding like that, then there may be something there.

You need to feel up into the armpit, because that's where the lymph glands

are, and a lump in the armpit that isn't just a spot or an ingrowing hair.

It could be.

a gland from from a problem with the breast well done you and with those tips

in mind the other girls take the plunge for women the lifetime risk of

developing breast cancer is one in nine so a check once a month isn't going to

hurt you don't have to be sat in a changing room in a soapy bath is perfect

so your fingers can glide over the skin and if you get bored of doing it

yourself get someone else to lend a hand has anybody found anything

Has anybody found anything, anything that they're worried about?

Mine are feeling a little bit lumpy, actually.

Do you want to pop up and I'll check with you?

Yeah, go on. It's OK.

You're quite lumpy just on the outside there, but there's not a particular lump

that bothers me there at all.

Are you due a period?

Yeah.

Because your breasts, to me, feel just like... They're about to have a period.

They're just engorged and they're just a little bit lumpy. You're normal.

All right.

Thank you. You always kind of think, oh, crikey, could that be something? But

having her tell you that it's really nothing to worry about, it's quite

reassuring and good to know. I would never go to the doctor and say, can you

show me how to examine my breasts, please? I would just never do that. So

to be told to do it was really good. I'm 20 and I've never really checked my

breasts properly, so I think it's a really good thing to do and something I

will definitely be doing in the future.