Our body is complex. When it comes to your breast health, an important, yet overlooked factor is how well fluids are circulating to and from your breasts. Not just blood, but also the fluids from your lymphatic system. Ensuring you are receiving a safe yearly screening with the use of thermography is what ThermApproach is all about. Helping you understand the connection between lymphatic congestion and breast health, is an important piece of the puzzle.

Throughout your body is an entire system of lymphatic tissue, the majority of which is found beneath your skin and within the digestive system. Though, often overlooked in the prevention and treatment of disease, the lymphatic system is a key component of your immune system. It identifies foreign invaders and helps launch an immune response to kill infection agents. It’s also an important part of detoxification, and it serves to remove toxins and waste products from your skin, organs, glands and other tissue. The toxins are then sent to the liver to be processed further and thereby eliminated.

Your breasts have a vast network of lymphatic channels that can easily accumulate substances that are fat-soluble. Hormones like estrogen or toxins that mimic estrogens in a way that is detrimental to your breast health; heavy metals and organic pollutants such as BPA, pesticides and phthalates all have a way of causing lymphatic congestion.

If all these toxins accumulate in your breast, normal cell function can become compromised. This in turn promotes abnormal cell function, hence, it then becomes more likely that cancer will develop.

Nowadays, breast cancer is the most frequent malignancy in women, with an incidence of 35-44 new cases per 100,000 women/per year, and its frequency is increasing.[i] When we conduct a thermogram on your breasts we are able to see areas that could be of concern, and thermograms also detect lymphatic congestion.

Some of the things that cause lymphatic congestion are:

Anti-Perspirants: Sweat is one way the lymphatic system eliminates toxins. By blocking sweat glands with anti-perspirants, toxins will accumulate. We recently shared an article about anti-perspirants, and the effects thereof.

Ill-fitting bras/bras in general: Bras can compromise your circulation. When you do where one, make sure you’ve purchased a bra that has been correctly sized by an expert. In this article, we talked about the relationship of bras to breast cancer.

There are many other ways you can avoid and help eliminate congestion, and one way is through Manual Lymphatic Drainage. Manual lymphatic drainage (MLD), sometimes called manual lymphatic therapy, uses light touch to move excess lymph and fluid out of the tissues and back into the lymphatic vessels. Although often referred to as a type of massage, MLD is very different from traditional forms of massage that rely on deep and rigorous rubbing. MLD is much gentler and should feel as if the skin is being brushed, not rubbed or kneaded.

We highly recommend that you schedule an appointment with a Massage Therapist skilled in lymphatic drainage. In Toledo, we would encourage you to call Back to Basics Massage. If you are not in the area, you can find one with a search for manual lymphatic drainage.

At ThermApproach, we utilize sophisticated infrared technology and innovative computer software to capture the images in the form of an infrared thermogram, or heat picture. All reports are interpreted by medical doctors that are Board Certified in Thermology.

Before you can feel it, thermal imaging can see it. Please call our office to schedule your screening today.

[i] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3065438/