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Inspired touch: how blind women outdo doctors at finding breast cancer
Source: The Guardian
Inspired touch: how blind women outdo doctors at finding breast cancer
Visually impaired women in Colombia are using their enhanced sense of feel to improve early breast cancer detection
Víctor M Olazábal in Cali
Mon 6 May 2019 07.00 BST Last modified on Mon 6 May 2019 10.24 BST
As a child, Francia Papamija started progressively losing her eyesight due to a retinal detachment. Today, everything is darkness for the 36-year-old – except for the job she holds in a clinic in Cali, Colombia, where she contributes to the early detection of breast cancer.
Papamija is a medical tactile examiner (MTE), a role created especially for women who are blind and have higher sensitivity in their fingertips.
According to Dr Frank Hoffmann, a gynaecologist, who created Discovering Hands to improve early detection, visually impaired women can detect about 30% more tissue alterations than doctors. Moreover, those changes can be 50% smaller than those usually identified by medics.
Papamija sees about 10 women a day in her consulting room at La Rivera health centre. She believes it’s easier for her as a blind woman to create a more relaxed atmosphere with patients “because they feel less nervous to talk openly about sensitive issues”.
Using her fingertips, Papamija explores a woman’s breasts, underarms and neck during a 45-minute examination. She is guided by five adhesive strips marked in braille, so wherever she finds a lump she can report to the doctor its exact location. No centimetre will be ignored.
-snip-
Visually impaired women in Colombia are using their enhanced sense of feel to improve early breast cancer detection
Víctor M Olazábal in Cali
Mon 6 May 2019 07.00 BST Last modified on Mon 6 May 2019 10.24 BST
As a child, Francia Papamija started progressively losing her eyesight due to a retinal detachment. Today, everything is darkness for the 36-year-old – except for the job she holds in a clinic in Cali, Colombia, where she contributes to the early detection of breast cancer.
Papamija is a medical tactile examiner (MTE), a role created especially for women who are blind and have higher sensitivity in their fingertips.
According to Dr Frank Hoffmann, a gynaecologist, who created Discovering Hands to improve early detection, visually impaired women can detect about 30% more tissue alterations than doctors. Moreover, those changes can be 50% smaller than those usually identified by medics.
Papamija sees about 10 women a day in her consulting room at La Rivera health centre. She believes it’s easier for her as a blind woman to create a more relaxed atmosphere with patients “because they feel less nervous to talk openly about sensitive issues”.
Using her fingertips, Papamija explores a woman’s breasts, underarms and neck during a 45-minute examination. She is guided by five adhesive strips marked in braille, so wherever she finds a lump she can report to the doctor its exact location. No centimetre will be ignored.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/may/06/inspired-touch-how-blind-women-outdo-doctors-at-finding-breast-cancer
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