What to Expect from Your First Mammogram

You’re either 40 years old or you’re younger but have a higher-than-normal breast cancer risk, so your OB/GYN has recommended that you get your first mammogram. You’re nervous. You’ve heard that your breast is going to get pressed into sheets of metal. You’re afraid of what the screening might reveal.

Thanks to mammograms and improved treatment, fewer women now die from breast cancer. According to research presented at the 2023 Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) meeting, women who get screening mammograms cut their risk of dying from breast cancer by 66% when compared to women who don’t get mammograms. 

If you’re booked for your first mammogram, you’ve taken an essential first step in breast care. Mammograms let your doctors find cancer early, when it can be treated and even cured. 

At Mass Medical Imaging, we perform mammograms and other breast screenings at our Lake Forest, Illinois, office. Our expert physicians, Joseph Calandra, MD, and Karen Mass, MD, want you to feel comfortable during your first mammogram.

What can you expect on the day of your first mammogram? Here’s a brief run-down.

You can’t wear deodorant, powder, or lotion

You don’t have to do much to prepare for your mammogram, but there are a few things you should not do. Deodorant, powder, perfumes, and lotion can interfere with the X-ray images, so you shouldn’t wear any body products or cosmetics on your arms, chest, or breasts on the day of your mammogram.

If you forget, you can remove your cosmetics before entering the mammogram room. You should also remove any jewelry that could drape across your breasts.

You change into a hospital gown

After the nurse checks you in, we bring you to a dressing room, where you store your clothes during your screening. You only have to remove your shirt, blouse, dress, and bra. You can keep on your pants, skirt, underpants, and shoes.

We provide you with a hospital gown that covers your top half. The gown is very loose and fastens with ties, so it’s easy to remove and manipulate during the screening.

We position your breast on a plate

When you get a mammogram, your technician helps you stand correctly and place the breast being screened on a metal plate attached to the X-ray machine. Once they’ve properly positioned the breast, they lower the other plate to squeeze it flat.

They then go to a console and tell you to hold your breath. The image is taken in just 10-15 seconds, and you can break your pose. The technician repositions you and takes a different view of the same breast.

The process is then repeated with your other breast. If you have breast implants or large breasts, your technician may take more than two views per breast.

You don’t get results right away

After the technician finishes the mammogram, you can get dressed and go home. Within 10 days, your doctor contacts you with the results. The lab should also send you a report within 30 days. 

Only about 2-4 in every 1,000 mammograms result in a cancer diagnosis. If your result is negative (i.e., no cancer is found), you don’t have another mammogram until the following year. We may recommend follow-up mammograms or other screenings if the result is positive or inconclusive. 

It may not be “one and done”

If you have dense breasts, your technician may not be able to see clearly into your breasts. Dense breast tissue (i.e., glandular rather than fatty) appears white on a mammogram, as do cancerous tumors.

To ensure they don’t miss any troublesome masses, your doctor may recommend another set of mammogram images, a 3-D mammogram, or an automated breast ultrasound (ABUS). These additional modalities allow your technician to visualize masses more distinctly than mammograms alone. 

You shouldn’t be concerned when your doctor orders a follow-up to your mammogram. These so-called “diagnostic mammograms” (and ABUS) are usually negative, which means that you’re cancer-free. We take a biopsy if we see a troubling mass or tumor. If you have cancer, we refer you to an oncologist and an oncologic surgeon.

Regular mammograms ensure that if your breasts do develop cancer, it’s caught at the earliest possible, most treatable stage. Even though you may feel nervous about mammograms and what they could reveal, they can save your life.

Call our caring and expert team to book your first mammogram today. You can also use our online appointment form.