Future Care Clinic hosts breast self-examination workshop |18 March 2020

Statistics show that currently, breast cancer is the most frequent cause of cancer death in women, making it an important issue in the work of medicine.

The good news is that women can perform breast self-examinations at home and experience has verified that 90% of breast cancers are found by women themselves. Additionally, when women discover lumps in their breasts, surgery can save 80% of proven cases.

It is for this reason that the management team at Future Care Clinic hosted a breast self-examination (BSE) workshop, which also served to commemorate International Women’s Day.

The workshop, held on March 10, began with a welcome speech by Jude Samaraweera, the managing director at Future Care Clinic.

“Here at the clinic, we concentrate on preventative action and so the workshop is useful for everyone; this is something that is needed in Seychelles. While this is our first workshop, we want to continue hosting more and we welcome people to let us know of any topics of interest that we can consider for the future”.

Dr Neidys Pino Bernal, resident doctor at Future Care Clinic, then gave a presentation about BSE, where she spoke about risk factors, frequency of BSE, examination stages and the steps that a woman needs to make as part of this examination.The invitees were also given the opportunity to ask the doctor any questions they had following her presentation.

Risk factors for breast cancer

-           Age

-           Early menarche (before 12)

-           Late menopause (after 55)

-           Nullipara

-           First pregnancy at advanced age

-           Absence of breastfeeding

-           Family history of breast cancer (1^st degree)

-           History of breast diseases

-           Genetic predisposition

Frequency of BSE

It is advisable for women over 20 years of age to perform a BSE once a month and BSE findings should be validated by a health professional. Women less than 40 years of age should have their findings validated once every three years while those over 40 should do so once a year.

Visual inspection

During a visual inspection of the breasts, women should look out for signs of elevation, asymmetry, bleeding, ‘orange peel’ skin and nipple retraction.

Steps for a BSE in lying position

1. Place a pillow under the right shoulder and place the right hand behind the head.
2. Use the finger pads of the three middle fingers (held together) on the left hand to feel the lumps.
3. Press the breast tissue against the chest wall firmly enough to know how the breast feels. A ridge of firm tissue in the lower curve of each breast is normal.

Steps for a BSE in-front of a mirror:

1. Stand in-front of a mirror with arms relaxed at sides or arms resting on hips, then turn to the right and left for a side view look (look for any flattening in the side view).
2. Bend forward from the waist with arms raised overhead.
3. Stand straight with arms raised over the head and move the arms slowly up and down at the sides (look for free movements of the breasts over the chest wall).
4. Press the arms firmly together at chin level while the elbows are raised to shoulder level.

Image source: Winston Medical Center

Following Dr Bernal’s presentation, Ms Ogada gave the invitees a briefing about the healthcare services offered at Future Care Clinic; these include:

-           Digital health systems

-           Technical collaboration with Hemas Hospital Laboratory Services in Sri Lanka

-           General Practitioner, Routine Specialist and Foreign Specialist consultations

-           Out-patient procedures

-           Laboratory services

-           Pharmacy

-           Medication on demand

Towards the latter part of the workshop, there was a raffle with the winning prize being a full complimentary health check, with the compliments of Future Care Clinic.

The invitees and the staff were then able to have a networking session together over a selection of refreshments that were made with a healthier twist, including ‘devilled eggs’, vegetable sandwiches and a variety of bite-size fruits.

Following the event, Mr Samaraweera told Seychelles NATION that this workshop marks the start of the clinic’s Health Education Programme.

“Future Care Clinic believes that prevention is better than cure, so we will continue to do more workshops in future to enlighten the people of Seychelles about health.”

For more information, visit or contact Future Care Clinic:

-           Location: Le Chantier, Victoria

-           Telephone: 4 225 252

-           Email: jude@future.sc

-           Follow Facebook account: Future Care

F.P.