Journalist Katie Couric, 66, shared a vulnerable photo of herself amid a “flare-up” from eczema, a chronic skin condition that causes inflammation and redness that she’s dealt with since childhood. Despite the candid nature of her social media posts, her strength, femininity, and self-confidence remain undeterred.
Couric is no stranger to sharing a health journey publicly; she revealed she had breast cancer in 2022 during a “Today Show” segment. Since her diagnosis, she’s been a staunch advocate for breast cancer screenings and healthy living.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends women at average breast cancer risk begin screening for breast cancer at age 40. Women with the BRCA gene mutation, who have a family history of cancer or have dense breasts, are at higher risk and should talk with their doctor about when to screen may be younger than 40.
While mammograms are extremely valuable for breast cancer screening, more effective screening methods exist for women with dense breasts like Couric. 3D mammograms, breast ultrasound, breast MRI, and molecular breast imaging are options for women with dense breasts for a more precise screening. It is important to ask your doctor about your breast density and cancer risk.
Journalist and cancer survivor Katie Couric, 66, is known to be a staunch advocate for breast cancer awareness, but the brave mother of two also lives with eczema. She drew attention to her lifelong skin care battle in a candid Instagram post showing her bare face after experiencing a flare-up.
“I have to be careful about what I put on my face,” Couric said in the social media post.
“Calling all sensitive skin sufferers! I’ve had eczema ever since I was a little girl, and as I’ve gotten older, it’s started to flare up again. I also deal with allergic contact dermatitis,” Couric added before praising a skin cream that’s brought her comfort.
Atopic dermatitis, also called eczema, is a “chronic disease that causes inflammation, redness, and skin irritation,” the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases explains.
Acknowledging the vulnerability of sharing a photo of herself without makeup, the veteran journalist quipped, “I can’t believe I let my team post this picture. Good Lord.”
(Photo by Andrew Eccles/Katie Couric Media)
Couric’s confidence exudes through her boldness to present herself in raw form without worrying about her femininity being called into question. Of course, Couric managed to navigate and survive the tough field of broadcast journalism as a woman. She also endured a public breast cancer journey after sharing her diagnosis on the “Today Show” last year.
Helping Patients Look and Feel Good on Their Journeys
Couric was diagnosed in June 2022 but revealed her cancer to the world during Breast Cancer Awareness Month last year. She said in an essay for Katie Couric Media that her diagnosis came on her wedding anniversary. She added before her diagnosis, she hadn’t had a mammogram since December 2020, so she was long overdue.
“You’re due for a mammogram,’ my gynecologist said, looking over my medical chart. It was May; I had just gotten a pap smear and was still sitting on the exam table in my pink cotton (open in the front) gown,” Couric wrote. “‘That’s crazy, I just got one!’ I told her, with a hint of indignation.”
Katie Couric is pictured with her radiation oncology team (Katie Couric Media)
After receiving a 3D mammogram, a breast ultrasound, and a biopsy, Couric was diagnosed with stage 1A, hormone receptor-positive, Her2-negative breast cancer. She’s since undergone a lumpectomy and radiation treatment, but she’ll need to take an aromatase inhibitor for five years.
“I was nervous about it. I waited a few days so I could process it and really understand what we were dealing with,” Couric said to “Today” at the time.
Dr. Michael Zeidman, assistant professor of surgery at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, tells SurvivorNet that stage 1 is divided into two subcategories, 1a and 1b. Stage 1a breast cancer means the cancer hasn’t spread outside the breast. Stage 1b means there’s no tumor in the breast; instead, small groups of cancer cells are found in the lymph nodes. Stage 1b can also mean there’s a tumor in the breast and small groups of cancer cells in the lymph nodes. Stage 1 also means the cancer was caught very early, he says.
She underwent surgery and radiation therapy to treat the cancer a few months after her diagnosis.
Her lumpectomy was performed in a process called wireless localization, which makes it easier for surgeons to locate tumors and less uncomfortable for the patient. It replaces the traditional wire placement patients must get before lumpectomy surgery.
This new technique functions much like a GPS in your car or phone and involves the insertion of a small tag or device onto your tumor several days before surgery. Then, on the day of surgery, the surgeon can locate the device and remove the tumor.
Perhaps equally as important is she learned more about her breast during her cancer journey. She has dense breasts, meaning more fibroglandular tissue and less fatty breast tissue exist.
Couric says she receives additional screening alongside her mammogram. She also receives an ultrasound. A breast ultrasound can supplement a regular mammogram in women with dense breasts.
How Couric’s Health Journey Fuels Her Advocacy
Couric has used her public platform to advocate cancer awareness and promote healthy living. More recently, she partnered with the wife of the late Alex Trebek, who died of pancreatic cancer. Couric and Jean Trebek kickstarted the “Alex Trebek Fund,” which was created to help support research into pancreatic cancer.
Couric said after Trebek died from cancer in 2020, she reached out to his colleagues on Jeopardy to lend her support and offer resources she has at her disposal. It was during this time she also connected with Jean. Couric lost her first husband to colon cancer in 1998, so she knew what Jean must have been going through amid great grief. The veteran journalist also lost her sister to pancreatic cancer in 2001, so she had an added personal connection to the disease.
Couric also promotes breast cancer screenings. She tends to draw added attention to women with dense breasts, which can be trickier to catch without undergoing enhanced screening.
The dense tissue has a “masking effect on how well we can perceive cancer and find cancer on mammograms,” Dr. Cindy Ly at NYU Langone Medical Center told SurvivorNet.
Women with dense breasts may not know they have it based on feeling alone. Breast density is determined by its appearance on a mammogram. Dr. Connie Lehman, the chief of the Breast Imaging Division at Massachusetts General Hospital, explains to SurvivorNet that fatty breast tissue appears gray on an X-ray. Conversely, dense breast structures appear white during an X-ray. Cancers also appear white on an X-ray, meaning the dense breast structures can mask the possibility of cancer. Luckily, advanced mammograms exist to help doctors navigate this obstacle.
WATCH: 3D Mammograms explained.
Additional screening methods are helpful for women with dense breasts because glandular tissue appears white on mammograms. Cancer and other abnormalities also exhibit a similar appearance. The “frosted glass” effect from the glandular tissue can thus mask cancerous areas, especially developing ones. Undetected, these cancers can progress, growing large and advanced. They will then likely require more intensive treatments to cure or can become incurable altogether.
“Digital mammography, it turns out, significantly improves the quality of the mammogram…It’s 3D or tomosynthesis mammography,” Dr. Lehman explains.
“This allows us to find more cancers and to significantly reduce our false-positive rate. With digital mammography 3D tomosynthesis, we’re taking thin slices through that breast tissue, like slices of a loaf of bread. We can look at each slice independently rather than trying to see through the entire thickness of the entire loaf of bread. So those thin slices help us find things that were hidden in all the multiple layers,” Dr. Lehman adds.
When to Screen for Breast Cancer
The medical community has a broad consensus that women between the ages of 45 and 54 have annual mammograms. However, an independent panel of experts called the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) is saying that women should now start getting mammograms every other year at the age of 40, suggesting that this lowered the age for breast cancer screening could save 19% more lives. For women aged 55 and older, the American Cancer Society recommends getting a mammogram every other year. However, women in this age group who want added reassurance can still get annual mammograms.
Women with a strong family history of breast cancer, a genetic mutation known to increase the risk of breast cancer, such as a BRCA gene mutation, or a medical history, including chest radiation therapy before the age of 30, are considered at higher risk for breast cancer.
Experiencing menstruation at an early age (before 12) or having dense breasts can also put you into a high-risk category. If you are at a higher risk for developing breast cancer, you should begin screening earlier.
Kavontae Smalls is a writer and reporter for SurvivorNet. Read More
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