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Dr. Neil B. Friedman, Director, the Hoffberger Breast Center, Serves As National Spokesperson for Bath & Bodyworks' In Touch Glove

Glove to Aid in Women's Breast Self-Exams

Think breast cancer is a problem only for women over age 40? Think again.

While the risk is relatively slim – the American Cancer Society reports that less than 30 percent of all breast cancer cases in 2005 occurred in women younger than 40 – when it does occur at a younger age, it may be more aggressive than breast cancer in older women.

Women diagnosed at a younger age may have a mutated gene called BRCA1 (Breast Cancer gene one) or BRCA2. The genes usually function to keep breast cells growing normally, but abnormalities allow the cells to develop cancer. Women who have these abnormalities often have a family history of breast cancer and/or ovarian cancer. The American Cancer Society notes that if a woman carries a defective gene, she may have a 50 to 85 percent chance of developing breast cancer in her lifetime.

Younger women typically do not have mammograms. While some women in 20s or 30s have a “baseline” mammogram to compare to once they begin having annual mammograms in their 40s, the evidence is slim as to whether it makes an appreciable difference, notes Dr. Neil B. Friedman, Director, The Hoffberger Breast Center at Mercy.

“Younger women have denser breast tissues which can make detecting a lump or other abnormality difficult. Mammograms have a harder time picking these up in denser tissue,” Dr. Friedman said.

Since younger women typically don’t have mammograms, self-breast exams typically become their first line of defense. A self breast exam is an important way for a woman to familiarize herself with the normal state of her breasts so that any abnormalities can be found early. According to the American Breast Cancer Foundation, finding a breast cancer as early as possible improves the likelihood that treatment will be successful.

That is why in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month this past October and to encourage women to perform self breast exams, Bath & Body Works has introduced the In Touch Breast Self-Exam Glove, a unique breast self exam tool designed to educate women on how to perform self-exams while facilitating their ability to do so.

"Early detection and diagnosis of breast cancer still remains a woman's best defense," says Neil B. Friedman, M.D., Director of The Hoffberger Breast Center at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore. "Taking proactive measures, such as an annual mammogram, an annual breast exam performed by a physician or healthcare professional, and routinely using the In Touch Breast Self-Exam Glove are healthy lifestyle habits every woman should adopt."

The In Touch glove was created for women in response to the long-standing belief by doctors that a smooth barrier is needed to help perform better self breast exams. In the past, chamois and scarves have been recommended for this purpose but these fabrics do not have the properties that the In Touch glove features including displacement, which magnifies bumps or lumps underneath the fingertips.

Cleared by the FDA and endorsed by the American Breast Cancer Foundation (ABCF), the In Touch Breast Self-Exam Glove contains a pink, non-toxic liquid that reduces friction by 50% (frictional coefficiency testing has been done for this product; it has met all the FDA requirements for an over-the-counter item and has been approved for the purpose of performing breast self-exams), allowing for heightened sensitivity of the fingertips during a breast self- exam so abnormalities are more easily detected. This lack of friction is what allows a woman to dig deep into the breast tissue so that smaller and deeper lumps and bumps that might have gone unnoticed can be found.