Breast cancer is automatically associated with women. There is good reason for this, as it is much more common for women to be diagnosed with breast cancer than men. However, breast cancer in men does exist even though it is quite rare.

It is reported that only 1 percent of the people suffering from breast cancer are actually men. The main reason why people do not think that male breast cancer actually exists is because men don’t have breasts. However, they do have breast tissue. This breast tissue in men normally stays small and flat. Some men develop what look like medium or large breasts. In actual fact, this is just fat collection as the man will more than likely be unfit and overweight. Some men do also grow actual breasts as a result of medication or unusually high hormone levels within the body.

There are a few factors to consider when looking at male breast cancer. Those factors are as follows and may vary from person to person. It is important to remember when looking at the factors that because the chance of getting breast cancer in males is low, there haven’t been a lot of studies looking into male breast cancer.

• Aging – Getting older can be just a bigger factor as it is for women developing breast cancer. The usual age when men are diagnosed with breast cancer is around the mid 60’s.

• Higher estrogens levels than normal can be a factor for men developing breast cancer. If a man is taking hormone medication for some reason, he may begin to develop breasts. As a result, he may be more at risk of developing breast cancer.

• Being obese or overweight increases the body’s production of estrogens levels within a male. This then makes them more at risk of getting breast cancer.

• It can be genetically passed on from male to male in the family. If there is a history of breast cancer within other males in the same family, there is much more chance of developing it later on in life.

• If the male has had radiation treatment to treat such diseases like Hodgkin’s disease can increase a man risk of getting breast cancer. This is especially true if the radiation treatment was given to the patient before they turned thirty years of age.

Symptoms in male breast cancer are not unlike what women get when they develop breast cancer. While breast cancer in men is still fairly uncommon, it does seem to be on the rise. This could be contributed to the growing problem of people’s waistlines all across the world.

Men developing male breast cancer may experience a lump or bump in the breast, underarm or collarbone area, painful nipples, discharging nipples, inverted nipples and sores around the nipple area.

Just because men sometimes develop breasts, doesn’t necessarily mean that they will go on to develop breast cancer.