How do moles increase your risk of breast cancer?
A 2014 study suggests that women with more moles might be at a higher risk of developing premenopausal breast cancer. Researchers analyzed records of 89,902 women in France. Out of that number, 5,956 developed breast cancer.
The study found that the women with “very many” nevi were more likely to have a family history of breast cancer. They were also more likely to develop the condition.
In another 2014 study with similar findings, researchers analyzed 24 years of health data from 74,523 female nurses. During those years, 5,483 of them developed invasive breast cancer.
The nurses with no moles were less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer than the ones who had some nevi. Nurses in the study who had 15 or more nevi were 3 percent more likely to develop breast cancer.
Researchers from both studies theorized that hormones may play a role in how many moles you develop over your lifetime. Your levels of the hormone estrogen may be linked to both developing breast cancer and to having a higher number of moles. As of now, more studies are needed to understand the way estrogen does (or doesn’t) work to connect these two things.
Can a mole on your breast or nipple turn into cancer?
Moles anywhere on your body can become malignant. That includes moles on your breasts and nipples.
Cancerous moles are a symptom of melanoma, the most common type of skin cancer. In most cases, melanomas can be removed safely, noninvasively, and before the cancer cells have spread.
Having a melanoma on your breast is not the same as having breast cancer, which typically involves a lump or tumor. Follow-up for melanoma removal rarely involves chemotherapy, radiation, or biologic drugs that are usually part of a breast cancer treatment plan.
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