"BSE is a simple test women can do to maintain breast health and statistics show women still don't do it on a routine basis," says Katherine Alley, MD, and Director of The Breast Center at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. "The "BSE Pad" aid can help women feel more confident in their ability to conduct exams by making it easier and more comfortable for them." The ultra-thin, softplastic breast pad may be reused each month. The pad is latex-free, comes with a step-bystep reference guide and easy to understand audiotape or CD narrated by Dr Christa Corn a General Surgeon and Breast Cancer Surgery Specialist.

A clinical trial conducted with seventy-two breast cancer patients revealed that patients who used "The BSE Pad" were able to use the product as effectively as nurses familiar with the proper breast examination technique. A similar study showed that women who used"

The BSE Pad" had higher tactile awareness than with a bare hand or with soapy water (simulating BSE in the shower).

Routine breast self-examination helps women become familiar with how their breasts normally feel, making it easier to detect any changes that may occur. According to the American Cancer Society, when breast cancer is discovered early and confined to the breast, the five-year survival rate is over ninety-six percent. Early detection of breast cancer increases the possibility that you may only need minimal surgery on the breast and axilla, which will reduce pain and suffering. The very small tumors (less than 1.0 cm) may not need to be treated with chemotherapy. Some studies estimate breast cancer mortality can be reduced by as much as eighteen percent through increased use of BSE.

The American Cancer Society recommends that all women 18 years of age and older should perform monthly breast self-exams.

Presently, seventy one million American women do not perform BSE for a variety of reasons including lack of confidence, not knowing what to look for, limited tactile sensitivity with a bare hand, fear of finding an abnormality, and discomfort in touching their own breasts. Although ninety-six percent of women are aware of the importance of BSE, only twenty-nine percent perform self-exams on a regular basis. "When I first brought home "The BSE Pad", I didn't use it for six months because I didn't feel confident that I would be able to detect a lump on my own," said Mary Gorman of Chevy Chase, Maryland. "Once I started using it, I was amazed at how the pad was able to enhance my sense of touch. "The BSE Pad" helped me find a lump that both a mammogram and my doctor had missed."

To use "The BSE Pad" correctly, women should examine their breasts standing up, lying down, and before a mirror. Many women who

conduct monthly BSE only do so in the shower and therefore do not complete a thorough examination.

Alice Haas a special education teacher in Cleveland knew she should do a breast self-examination every month. But like many women she found them confusing.

"I never knew if I was pressing hard enough or too hard, or if I was missing places", recalls the 52- year-old mother of four. "So most of the time, I just

didn't do them".

But six years ago, the hospital where Haas's husband was a social worker had a breast-cancer education program that featured a new product called the

"Touch Enhancing Pad". A thin, supple plastic disk that women place over their breasts during self-exams, it was designed to make it easier to detect lumps.

Mark Haas' bought the pad for his wife, and she tried it the same day - even though her annual mammogram, taken only six weeks earlier had been normal.

Haas was stunned when she found a pea-size lump in her right breast. " I couldn't believe it", she says. "My husband thought I was imagining things".

When she prodded her breast using her fingers alone, she too thought maybe she was imagining things since she could barely feel the lump. But when she

used the pad, there it was. " It felt like a pebble", she recalls.

Haas made an appointment with her doctor, who was able to find the lump with her fingers after she pointed it out. A biopsy confirmed that the lump was

malignant.

Fortunately, Haas had detected the cancer so early that it hadn't had a chance to spread. After a lumpectomy and seven months of chemotherapy followed by

three months of radiation, she was pronounced cancer- free.

"I am sure I'm alive today because of the pad," Haas says, "If I could, I'd give one to every woman I know."