Hello,
I am a 40yo woman considering my first mammogram. I have a personal reason for not wishing to disrobe. Please do not attempt to change my mind, it won’t happen. I should mention I hold a PhD in physics. I have been researching attenuation and scattering of ~25KeV x-ray photons. I haven’t specifically found data on fabrics, but am able to extrapolate from an elemental table I was able to locate. This in conjunction with other factors such as shot noise (digital detector), quantum noise and such leads me to believe that a thin layer of fabric will not result in any appreciable degradation in the image. Why are we asked to disrobe please?

This is probably one of the toughest questions that I've seen,

I do believe I have an answer for you that you can accept. Mamograms require compression of the breasts, so it's not like a dental x-ray or a chest x-ray. Detection isn't necessarily looking for masses by also changes in structure. You can see some of those changes in this paper: http://www.jatit.org/volumes/research-papers/Vol5No6/7Vol5No6.pdf

Adding highly compressed fabric against the breasts is like putting a screen in front of the breast and fine features would disappear. Take a look at your lawn through a screen vs. a window. If you put any fabric at all in front of a breast, it would still crease, even if it was 500 threads per inch.

Here is a technique that doesn't require that requires less compression and can detect cancers as small as 1.5 to 2 mm.

Remember that these images will also be compared with one another at a later date and you may have a physical exam as well.

I can't really provide any direct references.

It is done with only another female tech in the room as far as all I have known about. There is no disfigure and no other medical issue that would even make a second thought to them.
I would think they could work with you if you wore a outfit that allowed you to merely remove each breast one at a time.

Any personal disconfort is fall outweighted by the need for the exam.

Scared_Woman,

Although I can't understand your hesitation to disrobe, I can understand your fear of the mammogram. It's not a fun test. I've had only one so far in my life, because of a history of breast cancer in my family and I have to say, it was a bit uncomfortable, but that's it.

It's only a few minutes of your life, and then it's over and you'll feel safer knowing that you're taking care of your health

Without a mammogram I would have lost my mother in 1995. A mammogram detected the small growth in her breast and she had it removed, had radiation treatment and was with us until 2001 because of it.

Sadly she stopped going for mammograms after she was cancer free, because she was too ashamed to take off her clothes. You see, she had a lumpectomy (sp?) and the scar was horrific. She refused to let anyone other then her loved ones see it.

Her second time with cancer started in her breasts, but because we didn't detect it early, due to no mammogram, by the time the doctors caught it, it had spread all over. She died 10 months later.

It really is an important procedure. Don't let you fear prevent you from having this done. Your life may well depend on it.

Good luck.