Peter Criss From KISS Speaks About Men's Breast Cancer Awareness

by Amy Judd | October 23, 2009 at 01:12 pm

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Peter Criss, the ex-drummer frm KISS was diagnosed with male breast cancer in 2007; he is now cancer free, but is using what happened to him as an example of what all men should be aware of, and that men should know breast cancer is not just a woman's disease.

The 63-year-old Criss, who is cancer-free now, said that he discovered a lump in his left nipple in December 2007. On being diagnosed of breast cancer, he underwent a lumpectomy in February 2008, followed by a mastectomy a month later, under the care of Dr. Alex Swistel, director of New York's Weill Cornell Breast Center.

Peter Criss said that cancer doesn't discriminate; it can and will kill you if you are too 'macho' to deal with it.

According to the American Cancer Society there are about 1,910 new cases of male breast cancer every year and about 440 will die from the disease.

How does male breast cancer get diagnosed?

Men, although they don't have breasts, do have a small amount of breast tissue and they have a few ducts surrounded by fat and other tissues and it is in these tissues that cancer can grow.
It is considered a rare disease in men and if it occurs it will be in men usually over 35 at least. African-American men are more at risk of breast cancer than Caucasian men, and it seems to affect men who have had an abnormal enlargement of their breasts in response to drugs or hormomes.

Men discover breast cancer in much the same way women do - by finding a lump on their chest, but most men will wait until they have much more severe symptons such as bleeding from the nipple before they see a doctor and that means the cancer has already spread to the lymph nodes.

The treatment is the same for men and women.

In comparison, every year in the US, prostate cancer kills about 29,900 men and is the most common form of male cancer.

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