Hello,

I am a 22 year old female and a few days ago I found a very small yet very hard, round/smooth lump just under the top of my areola above my nipple on my right breast. The best way I can describe it is like a small piece of gravel or stone just under the skin of my areola with very smooth, regular, and round edges, probably around a few millimetres (if that). I check my breasts once a month because I know it is so important. However, I had not noticed this lump before and because of how hard it was and the fact I could not feel anything similar on the other breast, I went to get it checked out. It doesn’t hurt and I don’t have any skin changes or discharge from my nipple. It is also somewhat moveable and has not changed since I detected it. I was quite worried about it and so I went to see my GP today. She quickly found it upon examining my breast and she said you can actually see it through my skin because its much closer to the surface rather than attached to the actual deeper breast tissue. My only concern though was that she did not actually confirm what she thought it was but did also not refer me to a breast specialist. I am quite an anxious person and so because she struggled to give me proper reassurance or an answer, I asked her if she could refer me to a breast specialist regardless and she told me even if she did, it would get rejected because of how young I am. She has asked me to monitor it in relation to my period over the next two weeks and I am set to see her again to feel for any changes. However, I am really worried about it. I’m not sure whether I should go and get a second opinion and push to be referred to see a breast specialist sooner? I suppose it’s true that younger women are at less risk of things like breast cancer but the GP even said herself that it’s not impossible so I’m a little bit confused as to why she didn’t just refer me to a specialist any way just to be safe and get me on the waiting list? I just don’t want to risk falling through the system because of how young I am. Any advice on this??

Thank you!! :))