If you have a family history of breast cancer it can have a significant impact on your risk to develop the disease.

Breast cancer survivor Wendy Meade has a strong family history of breast cancer. That's why Wendy started getting yearly mammograms earlier than most women, a decision that might have saved her life. "I have had four aunts with breast cancer but they were all diagnosed right around age 60."

Dr. Mary Kay Peterson a radiologist with Southwest Florida Regional Medical Center warns, "If there is a family history you need to be diligent. You need to know if there's the brache gene in the family. You need to know if there's a genetic pre-disposition."

Important things to pay attention to with your family history is what relative had the disease and their age at the time of diagnosis. This will help determine when you should come in for your baseline, or first, mammogram.

Dr. Peterson adds, "Ten years earlier if an immediate family relative is diagnosed with a breast cancer pre-menopausally."

It's important to understand that having no family history of breast cancer doesn't mean your immune from getting it. Every time Dr. Peterson performs a biopsy she gets concerned when she hears a patient say everything's going to be all right because I don't have a family history of breast cancer. "The fact that there's no family history doesn't make me feel more comfortable that this is going to be a benign breast biopsy" says Dr. Peterson

Even though 80% of all biopsies are benign, family history isn't the reason to have a false sense of security. Only about 15% of all breast cancers are due to inherited factors, which is why self-breast exams, mammograms and physicals are still vitally important.

Women age 40 and older should have a screening mammogram annually and of coarse earlier as we've learned if there's a family history of the disease.