How Thermography Fits In

By Author: Melanie River
Total Articles: 223
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Thermography is a powerful tool that enables individuals to provide their doctors a tool to monitor their health in a way not previously available. It is an early detection method that will hopefully give individuals the kind of early warning about changes in their physiology that will help them to make the lifestyle changes necessary for better health. In the early days of thermography, there were concerns that false positives were common because no other detection method was able to pick up some of the changes that were being detected. This turns out, of course, to be the way it works when using breast thermography- diverted blood flow causes temperature changes that can be picked up via thermography, but until an actual growth develops in the body, mammography and physical exams are not able to discern any change in the tissue. On the one hand, this does mean than potential issues cannot be confirmed until they are at a later stage of development, which can be stressful. Yet on the other hand, it actually means there is a period of time between the most basic changes and significant changes during which action can be taken, ...
... and possibly prevent a real problem from developing.

Visiting a Thermography center to undergo breast thermography is something, that for many women is a more comfortable experience than with other breast health monitoring techniques like mammography, that requires the breast tissue to be compressed. Thermography is completely non-invasive, in fact, it is a no-touch screening, making it more comfortable both physically as well as psychologically. This isn't to say that one's comfort should necessarily be the priority when it comes to health, but it does make it easier to embrace healthy practices that don't push one out of their comfort zone. It's a bonus, really.

Breast thermography has a clear place within the realm of your health care routine. Breast thermography works in addition to other means of monitoring your health, such as self exams and annual doctor examinations as well. Thermography is not a replacement for mammography or regular physicals, but rather, one could choose to use thermography as a means to monitor whether or not there are any areas for concern that would prompt a mammogram. For example, in women that might have a higher risk for breast cancer, unlike mammograms, there is no recommended age for thermography, they are useful at any age. There is a time and a place for each of these modalities, so it is helpful to have the full range of tools to choose from. No matter what choices you make in regards to the tests and scans you use to monitor your health, it is important to remember that staying healthy in the first place is very important after all, by taking care of yourself the best you can, you increase the likelihood that the only thing the diagnostic results from your thermography center visit will reveal is healthy tissue.
Breast thermography is a great tool to be used along with your regular self-exams, doctor's physicals, and eventually annual mammograms as well. Thermography is able to detect changes in blood flow. An annual trip to the Breast Thermography center is one of the best tools you can give your doctor at detecting changes in your breast tissue, even before a mammogram could.