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 Mammograms are actually not recommended for younger women under the age of 40 for a very good reason; their breasts are denser than the breasts of women over the age of 50. A mammogram produces an x-ray that shows dense areas in white and less dense areas in shades of gray or black. For diagnostic purposes breast abnormalities or lesions will show up as white. Therefore utilizing mammography on young women is not as effective since their very normal, denser tissue make it very difficult for radiologists to read and come to accurate conclusions.
 It is the use of mammography on women whose breasts are denser than anticipated that actually leads to the misdiagnosis and painful often unnecessary procedures that have sparked the debate. So is the question of a cutoff for the use of mammography about age or breast tissue density?
It is in fact the uncertainty involved in x-raying a denser breast and the potentially frightening and unnecessary outcome that led to the suggestion that women under 40 years of age learn how to correctly perform a monthly self breast exam. How effective is this though? The argument states that whether a woman follows this religiously or not that the percentage chance of finding an abnormality is the same as a woman who does not. Why? Because the majority of the time a lump is large enough to find, you will probably stumble across it as well. But does that mean you should stop trying to find them before they are that obvious?
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