Changes in the skin caused by breast cancer, and tumor location, depth and violations related to the degree, usually have the following performance:
1. Skin adhesion: two shades of breast fascia is located between the superficial fascia and skin connected to the shallow and deep attached to the pectoralis superficial. Superficial fascia in the formation of lobular breast tissue within the interval, that is, suspensory ligament of the breast. When the tumor invasion and these ligaments, the make of the contraction, shorter, pulling the skin form a depression, shaped like a dimple, so called “dimple sign.” When the tumor is small, can cause a very slight skin adhesion, not easily detectable. At this point, be in better lighting conditions, light-care suffering from milk, so that surface tension increase, can be seen in the mobile breast cancer over the surface of the skin when a slight stretch, sag and so on. If such symptoms should be alert to possible breast cancer, benign tumors rarely have this symptom.
2. Skin and superficial varicose veins: the growth of tumors larger or faster, it can make the surface of the skin to become meager, under which superficial blood vessels, often can be varicose veins. In the liquid crystal thermography and infrared scan more clearly, is common in breast giant fibroadenoma and cystosarcoma phyllodes. In the acute inflammation phase, pregnancy, lactation is also often superficial varicose veins of the tumor.
3. Skin redness: acute and chronic mastitis, the mammary gland may have redness and swelling of skin. However, in breast cancer, mainly seen in inflammatory breast cancer. Because of its subcutaneous lymphatic vessels are all occupied embolus can cause cancer, lymphangitis, skin color pink to dark red at this time, began to become more limited, and soon extended to most of the breast skin, and at the same time with skin edema, thickening of the skin temperature and so on.
4. Skin edema: Because breast subcutaneous lymphatic obstruction by tumor cells or breast tumor cells infiltrating the central areas are, so that breast lymphatic return blocked, the accumulation of lymph within lymphatic vessels, skin thickening, hair follicle population expanded, deep and displays “Orange Leather-like change. ” In obesity, drooping of the breasts away from it under the common mild skin edema, such as bilateral symmetry, takes into account the local circulation disturbance caused by; the case of unilateral, it must carefully guard against possible carcinoma.
In addition, a direct violation of advanced breast cancer can still cause skin ulcers, if complicated with bacterial infections, unpleasant odor. If the infiltration into the skin cells and the growth of the primary lesions in the skin around the formation of hard nodules scattered in that “satellite skin nodules.”
