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 On a mission to 

 Empower women to 

 Know their breast density and take

 control of their breast cancer screening 

The denser the breasts,
the higher the risk
of breast cancer.[1]

A mammogram will miss
more than 50% of cancers
in dense breasts.[2,3,4]

Who Cares?

Why do I care about breast density?

  • The more dense your breasts are, the higher your risk of breast cancer.
  • Dense breast tissue on a mammogram is white. Cancer also appears white on a mammogram. Therefore, the more dense tissue you have the more difficult it is for the mammogram to find the cancer.
  • perfect stormThis creates THE PERFECT STORM that might leave cancer undetected . . . and left to grow and spread.

So – do I have dense breasts?

Touch them all you want.
It has nothing to do with size or how they feel. There is only ONE way to know your density.

breast self exam
Dense tissue looks white/cloudywhile fat tissue looks dark.

On A Mammogram:

Dense tissue looks white/cloudy
while fat tissue looks dark.

How do I find out if I have dense breasts?

A radiologist uses a mammogram to determine your density level. So there is only 1 way to know:
GET A MAMMOGRAM or read a previous mammogram report.


Density is hereditary, but that doesn’t mean it’s constant. It can change!

Factors that can affect your density level throughout your life:

  • aging, having kids, and using Tamoxifen* can lower density
  • postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy and having a low body mass index are associated with higher density

There are 4 categories of Breast Density:

A, B, C or D

Any amount of dense tissue is NORMAL! 

TYPE A:  Ideal Visibility

Your breasts are composed of almost entirely fatty tissue.
Technical Term: “Fatty”

sunny

TYPE B:  Generally Good Visibility

Your breasts are composed of mainly fatty tissue, with some scattered areas of dense tissue.
Technical Term: “Scattered Fibroglandular Density”

density_sunnyPartly

TYPE C: Limited Visibility

Your breasts are a mixture of fatty tissue and dense tissue.
Technical Term: “Heterogeneously Dense”

mostly cloudy

Type D:  Almost Zero Visibility

Your breasts are composed of almost entirely dense tissue.
Technical Term: “Extremely Dense”

totally cloudy
4CategoriesBreastDensity_MC
The more dense your breasts are, the more difficult to see through the tissue.
Breast Density / Cancer Risk

Know Your Risk

The more dense the breast,
the higher the risk for breast cancer.

A woman with extremely dense breasts (Category D) is 4-6 times more likely to get breast cancer than a woman with fatty breast density (Category A).[22]

Why has no one told me about this?

Our healthcare system has inconsistent rules, and not all doctors are equally informed.

No one tells us

If you have dense breasts (categories C & D), you may benefit from additional screening after your mammogram.

What are my options?