Tyler Mane, an actor known for his roles in “X-Men” and “Halloween,” announced on Tuesday that he had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
“I’ll be honest, my first reaction was to keep it secret,” Mr. Mane wrote in a caption with a video posted on social media in which he said he was beginning chemotherapy. “I mean, it’s kind of embarrassing. But then I found out that men are more likely to be diagnosed in advance stages BECAUSE it’s not talked about and not looked for.”
Male breast cancer is rare: About 1 in every 100 breast cancers diagnosed in the United States is found in a man, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But researchers in recent years have been pushing for more men to be included in clinical trials of breast cancer treatments, which are often tailored for women.
Mr. Mane, whose birth name is Daryl Karolat, played Sabretooth in the movie “X-Men” in 2000 and again in “Deadpool & Wolverine” in 2024. Before his career in Hollywood, he was a professional wrestler.
While breast cancer is less common in men, “We see it on a regular basis,” said Dr. Melissa Pilewskie, a breast surgical oncologist and co-director of the Weiser Family Center for Breast Cancer at University of Michigan Health. “Unfortunately, breast cancer is just that common.” About 2,670 men are expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2026, according to the American Cancer Society.
Symptoms in men often include a lump or swelling in the breast, as well as redness, pain, nipple discharge and flaky, irritated or dimpled skin. But many men do not recognize these signs.
“The most common thing that I find in my male breast cancer patients is that they have felt a lump for quite some time, and either the patient or their family or their physicians have dismissed this as nothing to worry about,” Dr. Pilewskie said.
That mirrored the experience of Mr. Mane, 59. “In fact, my doctors all dismissed it and it was only because my wife pushed me to get the lump removed that I got in early,” he said in the social media post.
Risk for men, as for women, increases with age. The majority of breast cancers are found after age 50, according to the C.D.C. Genetics also influence risk; men who have a family history of breast cancer or who inherit certain gene mutations, like the BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations, are more likely to develop breast cancer.
Men who have undergone chest radiation therapy or hormone therapy are at higher risk for breast cancer, as are men who have liver disease, obesity or an uncommon genetic condition called Klinefelter syndrome.
Doctors typically use the same methods to treat male and female breast cancers, which can include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and hormone therapy.
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