Breast indentation

[jimmychooing]

Hi
I have been to my GP and they are going to refer me to the breast clinic BUT can anyone offer reassurance or experiences? I've been to the clinic before for what turned out to be cysts but this is in the other breast and is a indentation (see attached photo). I wondered/hoped it might just be my breast sagging with age?...

[Image removed by MNHQ at poster's request]

How old was your mother at diagnosis? It may be entirely unrelated and not increase your risk at all.

I’d advise against driving yourself bonkers trying to feel if it’s growing or googling too much at this point. Hopefully you should know in time to relax and enjoy Christmas.

Absolutely won't do that cherry - made that mistake the time I got sent and it was a cyst, I was an absolute wreck! I was referred the week my mum was told she only had a few weeks left so that didn't help

She was in her early 50s at diagnosis and I've been told that doesn't increase my risk hugely but only slightly so I'm not running away with scary thoughts I promise!

Thank you all so much for reassurance, the more people who tell me I have saggy boobs the better

Much tougher to put it aside if your mother was lost to it. Horrid, in fact. My mother was much older, seventies so I knew it didn’t make any difference to me.
Fingers crossed that you join the majority who come out of the clinic smiling.

Just to update you all, I've got my appointment through for the second week in January - they are very busy apparently and COVID has taken a toll so they can't see me sooner

That’s not nice having to fret over Christmas. It might be worth ringing the breast Secretary and saying you’ll take a cancellation if one becomes available.

I did that, but she said the cancellation list was also very long and that it would be very unlikely. I'll just have to get my head around it. COVID has messed up lots of nhs services unfortunately

I’m sorry rotten luck with timing. You now just have to hang on to most referrals coming to nothing and waiting until after Christmas is highly unlikely to make any difference to outcomes or even timing of any treatment necessary.
Pretty tough and hard to do though. Are you any good at burying your head in the sand? Do you have real life people to support and share your angst?

I'm doing ok most of the time but I've stupidly googled breast dents this evening and now I can only think the worst it was stupid of me, but I intended to look for 'normal' dents but couldn't find any and all google did was the usual thing it does... January seems a long way away!

Oh and I name changed if that wasn't obvious!

Yes it must seem a long way off. It is hard and waiting is scary.

I’d suggest googling survival rates rather than diagnostic information. Breast clinics exclude most conditions as benign. You’ll still think the worst though. That means you’re ready to face the possibility which is probably better than total denial.

Most women survive after treatment. Most women have good outcomes. The 5 year survival rate is 91% - pretty good odds given some deaths are more about aged women than cancer. Imagine how pleased you’d be with an exam score of 91%.

It’s five years just because that is the measurement not because women suddenly keel over. Even if it is a cancer, it’s likely to be early. It’s likely to be very amenable to treatment.
The treatment is entirely manageable. It’s not nice but it’s nowhere near as bad as you imagine it will be. More of that not knowing imagination making it worse.

I can’t promise it isn't a breast cancer but I can promise you’ll cope regardless of diagnosis. Weirdly, having breast cancer was good for me in a number of ways. You’ll surprise yourself whatever the diagnosis. Still hope for a good outcome but don’t panic about a less good outcome. It’s that - less good not usually disastrous.

You're right, and I'm sorry you've had to experience breast cancer. I've had a few friends be treated and come out the other side, it's just the experience of my mum that was unexpected (caught early, only need lumpectomy and radiotherapy so very high survival rate, but it snuck back unnoticed)

Anyway, nothing much I can do about it until my appointment.

I do wish that there were more examples of 'normal' breast dents but maybe it's just an unusual thing to have

I was referred to the breast clinic with an indentation. It looked (and still looks!) very much like all the photos online. I couldn't find any positive outcome stories online.

Breast Surgeon examined it and told me immediately that she didn't think it was anything to worry about. This was confirmed by a mammogram and ultrasound.

I had to wait two weeks for my breast clinic appointment. It was unbearable. I tortured myself looking at pictures online and was convinced it was sinister. Easier said than done, but try and step away from Google. I hope you can distract yourself and have the same outcome as me.

Like you I have had previous cysts, my indent turned out to be a collapsed cyst. Hopefully yours will be innocent too.

Fingers crossed for good news in the New Year.

Thanks all. I'll try my best to distract myself

The closest thing I've seen to it during my frantic googling last night was the 'sliding' effect you can get with breast implants

Just to update for anyone that reads this later - they found lots of cysts but nothing sinister. They've left the cysts where they are as they aren't causing me any problems but told me to come back if they start to give me problems or even if I can feel them at a later date (I can't feel any lumps and neither could the dr so they must be quite deep?)

Fantastic news for you!

That is great news!
I was wondering how you got on.
I didn't want to post as my breast indentation was cancer and you didn't need to hear that while waiting to be checked.
I had a large tumour that was on the chest wall so no-one was ever able to feel it with examination.
Made me feel a bit better that I hadn't noticed it myself when the oncologist couldn't find it!