Most women are on high alert when it comes to breast cancer.  We get our annual mammograms, do self examinations and keep an eye on our breasts, erring on the side of caution.  However, many women may not know that breast dimpling is the classic sign of inflammatory breast cancer which is a particularly aggressive type of breast cancer though rare, according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc.

Breast dimpling may be a symptom of breast cancer and should be investigated by a doctor.  Dimpling could be an indication of  a growth pulling on the surrounding tissue and on the skin that is directly above the growth, which results in dimpling.  This can be characteristic of a cancerous growth.  Breast dimpling can also be caused by other conditions, according to Wrongdiagnosis.com, including trauma to the breast, mastitis, breast abscess, fat necrosis, duct obstruction and inflammation of the breast fatty tissue.

Inflammatory breast cancer will cause tenderness, aching and pain in your breast.  In addition, the appearance of your breast will be altered.  The breast may become discolored and turn purple, pink or red, or have a bruised appearance.  You may feel unusually warm in that breast.  Dimpling may occur as can the appearance of ridges on the skin.  Dimpling is described as a crease or hollow area (a slight depression) in the body.  The breast may become visibly enlarged, thick and heavy.  You may discover crusty or swollen skin on the nipple and your nipple may turn inward (inverted).

The areola, the skin around the nipple, may change in color.  You may notice that your lymph nodes under your arms, below the collarbone or above the collarbone have become enlarged.  This kind of breast cancer develops quite rapidly and may manifest in swollen, tender and red breasts.  When a woman has inflammatory breast cancer, she may not have a suspicious lump that shows up in a mammogram.

Inflammatory breast cancer may be confused with a breast infection.  However, if it is cancer, antibiotics won’t cure the symptoms.  A breast infection occurs when there is an infection in the tissue.  This is sometimes referred to as mastitis.  These infections are usually caused by bacteria, which enters through a crack in the skin, usually on the nipple.  Symptoms of a breast infection include fever and flu-like symptoms that include vomiting and nausea; itching, breast enlargement on one side, pain in the breast, a lump in the breast, nipple discharge that can contain pus, changes in nipple sensation, tenderness, swelling, redness and warmth in the breast tissue and enlarged or tender lymph nodes in the armpit on the same side as the infected breast, according to Health.google.com.

The cause of inflammatory breast cancer is not known.  However, as with all cancers, this disease is characterized by cell division that is unregulated.  An abnormal cell multiplies and results in numerous abnormal cells in the breast ducts.  In inflammatory breast cancer, the cells speedily infiltrate and obstruct the lymphatic vessels in the skin that covers your breast.  The swollen and dimpled skin is a result of the blockage of these vessels.

Women know that discovering a lump in their breast is cause for concern; however, there are other symptoms that women need to be on the look out for so that breast cancer can be detected and treated early.  Those symptoms include any changes in sensation in the breast, changes to the skin over the breast, including dimpling, bloody discharge from the nipple, flaking or peeling of the nipple skin, pitting of the skin, a thickening or a lump, an inverted nipple and a change in the shape or size of the breast,.  If you are having any of these symptoms, discomfort, pain or odd feelings in your breast be sure to point them out to your physician as soon as possible for a proper diagnoses.

For more information you may contact the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Foundation.  A live Fact & Fallacies radio call-in progran will be broadcast at 10 p.m. EST the third Wednesday of November and December 2009.  Call toll-free 1-888-572-0141.