Do tumors feel hard to the touch, soft, or both?

Answer 1

"Tumor" is an ancient latin word that basically means "a swelling". When we use this word in modern medicine, we typically use it to represent "neoplasm". Neoplasm just means "new growth", the idea being that a lump is growing where there shouldn't be one.

There are "benign" neoplasms and there are "malignant" ones. Benign means non threatening, while malignant means bad. Benign neoplasms are ones that do not have the characteristic of growing into and replacing normal functioning tissue, and they do not break off and grow in other places. Benign neoplasms can still cause health problems, but typically only by pushing against things inside the body. Malignant neoplasms, on the other hand, invade into surrounding tissue, destroying and replacing it, and then bits of it float away and grow elsewhere. This latter effect is termed metastasis.

Most neoplasms are harder than the surrounding tissue. There are some soft neoplasms such as benign fatty tumors which make soft lumps under the skin, and benign vascular tumors which can be soft red lesions in the skin, but in general neoplasms are poorly organized lumps of cells which are growing faster than the surrounding tissue layers. For this reason, benign or malignant, they feel like lumps which are harder than the tissue around them.

The nature of a mass cannot be completely determined by physical exam. We can make some fairly educated guesses about what a bump is based on where it is and what it feels like, for example, bumps under the armpits are likely to be swollen lymph nodes, because there are a lot of them there, and a lump on the back of the knee may be a "Baker's cyst", because this is a relatively common lump in that location. However,the definitive diagnosis often requires some kind of confirmatory study. One such type of study would be imaging (with xray or CT scan, etc.) another would be by direct biopsy. A biopsy is where a small piece of the mass is removed to be examined by a pathologist under the microscope.

There are some characteristics to lumps that make them more or less concerning. A soft, clay-like mass that lies directly beneath the skin and which is clearly not firmly affixed to the underlying tissue layers is possibly an inclusion cyst. A hard mass that seems to be rooted in the muscle layers, but that the skin can easily slide back and forth over, is more likely to be concerning.

Anyone who discovers a mass under their skin should pay attention to whether or not it seems to be rapidly changing in size. Concerns about tumors should be brought to the attention of a qualified physician.

Answer 2

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RE:
Do tumors feel hard to the touch, soft, or both?

Answer 3

Are Tumors Hard

Answer 4

They can be either. The best course of action is to see a doctor to determine if you have a tumor, and if you do, if it is malignant. Remember, some tumors are benign.

Answer 5

some hard, some soft.. Some are soft on the outside and hard inthe inside or viceversa.. That will depend on the tumor...

Answer 6

Get Ovarian Cyst Miracle!

Answer 7

Both but before you start worrying have it checked out by your doctor.

Answer 8

sometimes but im only 13 so i dont know for shure

Answer 9

both