A cancerous lump is usually hard, not soft or squishy. And it often has angular, irregular, asymmetrical edges, as opposed to being smooth, Dr. Comander says. In order for you to feel a cancerous lump, it probably has to be rather large and closer to the surface of the skin.
This is especially true when the lump or bump is soft, moves or changes form when you touch it or apply pressure, or grows larger and more painful when you are physically active and returns to normal when you rest.
If you find a lump, don't panic. A majority of these are benign, which often feel like a round, smooth rubber ball. Malignant lumps, on the other hand, are irregular, firm and unable to be moved. Understanding how your breast normally feels is essential to finding these lumps early.
Lumps that are hard to the touch or seem fixed to surrounding tissues may be more concerning than soft, moveable ones. A hard, immovable lump could indicate a more serious condition, including certain types of cancer. Benign lumps like lipomas or cysts are typically soft and can be moved around under the skin.
See a GP if:
your lump is painful, red or hot. your lump is hard and does not move. your lump lasts more than 2 weeks. a lump grows back after it's been removed.
Make an appointment to have a breast lump checked, especially if: The lump is new and feels firm or fixed. The lump doesn't go away after 4 to 6 weeks. Or it has changed in size or in how it feels.
They can feel firm or soft. Benign masses are more likely to be painful to the touch, such as with an abscess. Benign tumors also tend to grow more slowly, and many are smaller than 5 cm (2 inches) at their longest point. Sarcomas (cancerous growths) more often are painless.
How long can you have cancer without knowing it? While some cancers grow very quickly, other cancers are very slow growing and can even go undetected for ten years or more. One example is certain types of thyroid cancer, which are very slow growing and may never spread beyond the thyroid gland.
It's important to talk with your doctor about any lumps that are larger than two inches (about the size of a golf ball), grow larger, or are painful regardless of their location. “Tell your doctor about new lumps or other symptoms that cannot be explained or that don't go away in a few weeks,” Dr. Shepard says.
1 Cancerous lumps often feel hard, painful, and unmovable, and should be evaluated by a healthcare provider right away. You should also see your healthcare provider if you have a lump that grows quickly, is painful, or bleeds. Unexplained bumps and lumps can appear on different parts of your body.
Diameter of less than one inch. Discoloration, often appearing brown, pink, gray, red, yellow, or white. Flat or slightly raised. Hard or wart-like surface.
Sarcoma can cause a visible lump or swelling in a bone or soft tissue. The lump may vary in size, texture and appearance depending on the specific subtype of sarcoma and its location. Additionally, subcutaneous or superficial sarcoma may cause noticeable changes in the skin, such as discoloration or puckering.
Generally, breast cancer lumps tend to feel hard, firm and solid, and they have irregular edges. However, it's important to remember that some breast cancer lumps can be soft and smooth to the touch, so you should consult with your doctor whenever you feel a lump in your breast or armpit.
These knots can be as small as a pea or as large as a baseball. They are typically invisible since they remain beneath the skin and don't cause lumps. It will often be painful to push on a muscle knot, whereas a cancerous lymph node is rarely painful.
You cannot “catch” cancer from someone else. Close contact or things like sex, kissing, touching, sharing meals, or breathing the same air cannot spread cancer. Cancer cells from someone with cancer are not able to live in the body of another healthy person.
In fact, tumors may feel hard from the outside, but research has shown that individual cells within the tissue aren't uniformly rigid, and can even vary in softness across the tumor. However, cancer researchers didn't understand how a tumor could be both rigid and soft at the same time, until now.
Cysts feel like soft blisters when they are close to the skin's surface, but they can feel like hard lumps when they develop deeper beneath the skin.
There are certain factors that make a nodule suspicious for thyroid cancer. For example, nodules that do not have smooth borders or have little bright white spots (micro-calcifications) on the ultrasound would make your doctor suspicious that there is a thyroid cancer present.
"About 10% to 20% of lumps are cancer. The rest are benign." A doctor can determine the difference through a physical exam and a biopsy if necessary. "A physical exam can hint whether the lump is bad (malignant) or harmless (benign)," says Dr.