(CNN) -- A vacation to Washington nearly a decade ago led to a life-changing revelation for Kathi Cordsen. Passing by a breast cancer awareness event, her mother blurted it out: Her doctor had just confirmed that she had breast cancer.
She'd found the lump during a self-examination.
Fortunately, Cordsen's mom had found the cancer so early that she was able to have a lumpectomy and didn't need chemotherapy or radiation. That's why, today, Cordsen checks her own breasts every day in the shower.
"It was such an inspirational thing to find out that it saved her life, that's for sure," said Cordsen, 57, who submitted her story to CNN's iReport. "It's just important, to want to live and take care of yourself."
New guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force say that women age 40 to 49 don't need to have routine mammograms anymore and that breast self-exams aren't recommended in general. The group found no evidence that self-exams reduce breast cancer death rates, and it discourages teaching women how to examine themselves.
New trends in self-exams
Although major cancer-awareness groups such as the American Cancer Society and Susan G. Komen for the Cure disagree with the new guidance on mammograms, continuing to recommend routine mammograms for women 40 and up, guidance on self-exams has been trending toward the task force's suggestions.
Both the American Cancer Society and the Komen foundation have been advocating that women be "aware" of their breasts rather than do a formalized self-examination procedure a few days after the menstrual period once a month.
The American Cancer Society makes no recommendations for how often or in what capacity a woman should check her breasts, just that she should be aware of any changes, said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer.
Being told to do this formal procedure resulted in "a huge guilt trip" for women who developed breast cancer, he said.
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Ladies, what do you think? Good advice or hooey?
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