While tumors are fairly stationary, cysts often move and change form when you touch them.
Cancers tend to feel much harder than benign cysts and fibroadenomas. Both benign and malignant masses can be rounded and mobile. Only when cancers are quite advanced are they fixed to skin or the underlying chest wall, and not moveable.
A tumor may feel more like a rock than a grape. A cancerous lump is usually hard, not soft or squishy. And it often has angular, irregular, asymmetrical edges, as opposed to being smooth, Dr. Comander says.
Bumps that are cancerous are typically large, hard, painless to the touch and appear spontaneously. The mass will grow in size steadily over the weeks and months. Cancerous lumps that can be felt from the outside of your body can appear in the breast, testicle, or neck, but also in the arms and legs.
Lumps that are benign (not cancer) may be tender and feel smooth and mobile. A cancerous lump is more likely to feel hard, but some non-cancerous lumps can feel hard, too.
Normal, benign lumps typically feel soft and roll easily under your fingers. They may cause pain if they become infected or inflamed. On the other hand, cancerous lumps usually grow in size and are hard, large, and painless.
Benign masses are more likely to be painful to the touch, such as with an abscess. Benign tumors also tend to grow more slowly, and many are smaller than 5 cm (2 inches) at their longest point. Sarcomas (cancerous growths) more often are painless.
In fact, tumors may feel hard from the outside, but research has shown that individual cells within the tissue aren't uniformly rigid, and can even vary in softness across the tumor. However, cancer researchers didn't understand how a tumor could be both rigid and soft at the same time, until now.
Alexandra Gangi: Like all tumors, a benign tumor is a mass of abnormal cells. But unlike malignant (cancerous) tumors, they can't move into neighboring tissue or spread to other parts of the body.
Tumors may be either benign (noncancerous) or malignant (cancerous). Benign tumors usually grow in one place and do not spread. Malignant tumors develop in one area of the body, then spread to others. Both benign and malignant tumors vary in size.
The metastatic tumor is the same type of cancer as the primary tumor. Many cancer deaths are caused when cancer moves from the original tumor and spreads to other tissues and organs. This is called metastatic cancer.
Basal cell carcinoma is the type of skin cancer that most commonly may look like a pimple. The visible parts of basal cell carcinoma lesions are often small, red bumps that may bleed or ooze if picked at. This may look similar to a pimple. However, after it's “popped,” a skin cancer will return in the same spot.
“A cyst is usually a benign condition. But they sometimes need to be drained or removed because they can cause symptoms.” In contrast, tumors are typically more solid collections of tissue. They occur when cells grow uncontrollably when they shouldn't, or when cells don't die when they should.
A lipoma is a lump of fatty tissue that grows just under the skin. Lipomas move easily when you touch them and feel rubbery, not hard. Most lipomas aren't painful and don't cause health problems so they rarely need treatment.
Every person has hundreds of lymph nodes throughout the body. They are movable lumps approximately the size of a pea most typically founds in the armpits, collarbone, groin, and neck. Your lymph nodes swell in response to something as minor as a cold or due to mild infections.
A lipoma is a noncancerous growth of fatty tissue cells. A lipoma can develop in almost any organ of the body although they are most commonly found in the subcutaneous layer just below the skin. A lipoma usually grows slowly and is a nonpainful mass that is soft and moveable under the skin.
Lumps that could be cancer might be found by imaging tests or felt as lumps during a physical exam, but they still must be sampled and looked at under a microscope to find out what they really are. Not all lumps are cancer. In fact, most tumors are not cancer.
Not all cancers cause pain
Many people with cancer do not have pain. This is because cancers don't have any nerves of their own. The pain comes from a tumour pressing on nerves nearby. Researchers estimate that 38 and of 100 people with cancer (38%) have moderate to severe pain.
Sarcomas can grow without causing any symptoms. Pain or discomfort may occur only once these tumors grow large enough to press against the nerves or muscles. A bone sarcoma may cause pain and/or swelling in an arm or leg, the trunk, the pelvis, or the back. This area may sometimes feel warm to the touch.
See a GP if:
your lump gets bigger. your lump is painful, red or hot. your lump is hard and does not move. your lump lasts more than 2 weeks.
A “doughy” lump is usually associated with a benign lipoma. Likewise, lumps that are harmless can often be accompanied by tenderness, pain, or drainage. Signs that suggest a lump might be concerning include: if it suddenly becomes very hard or feels like a rock under the skin.
"About 10% to 20% of lumps are cancer.