Social media gets a pretty bad rep, but sometimes it can be a force for good. This week, Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas received a stream of concerned Instagram messages from fans about a lump they had noticed under her arm in last week’s live Strictly show.
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Shirley’s message
Taking to Instagram, Shirley said:
Last week and the week before, I got some alarming messages from people saying that when I picked my arm up they could see lumps or bumps or nodes or whatever. So I just did some self check and I couldn't feel anything except a tiny little node at the back, but I'm going to go to the doctors on Tuesday.
She also shared an important reminder of the importance of self-checking, saying:
To all women out there, please keep checking yourself and to those people that were concerned enough to send me messages that they saw lumps and bumps... thank you. I’m very very grateful. But female self-check at any age to just check that we have no little lumps and bumps underneath our arms or anywhere else for that matter.
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How to self-check
The NHS advises regularly looking at and feeling breasts and armpits up to the collarbone to be aware of what’s normal for you and help you notice any changes. You should see a GP if you notice any of these changes: new lumps or bumps, a change in the size or shape of your breast, puckering, dimpling, rashes or redness on your breast, a change in the position of your nipple, discharge from your nipple, a rash, scaliness or itchy skin on or around your nipple, or pain in one breast.
