Josefa Cortes is a young Chilean designer who in 2019 invented a great device that helps detect breast cancer. Is about “Palpa”, a breast-shaped device that is filled with liquid soap and used as a sponge for showering.
Palpa has inside a lump similar to those that are usually detected by those who palpate the breasts. Being taken to be used as a sponge, it allows the user to become familiar with the touch and palpation of her own breasts, alerting herself if something strange is noticed.
Today, four years after Josefa invented it, the device is already sold by e-commerce through the websitewhich also already has the sponsorship of companies that have been interested in supporting the development of the ingenious invention.
In addition, Josefa was recognized as a young Latin American innovator in the category under 35 years, by the MIT technological institute.
The story of Josefa Cortés and the reasons why she invented Palpa
In 2020 Josefa was in the last year of her Design degree at the Catholic University of Chile and thinking about her thesis when a person very close to her was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. “Palpa was born from the story of Jovita, a person I love very much, who a few years ago detected a lump in one breast but allowed herself to think it was a ‘bean’ of fat. Years later she went to check up and diagnosed with advanced breast cancer,” Josefa told in a note that she shared on her Instagram.
“I was just in the last year of my degree and I started to investigate this topic because I saw that many cases of breast cancer occur in women under 40 years of age and the only way to detect it is through self-examination. And basically no women he does it”added the young Chilean.
The idea of creating Palpa as an element that helps raise awareness of the importance of self-examining the breasts once a month has achieved a great social impact, a fact that did not go unnoticed by its creator. “The device serves to make self-examination a habit,” he stated. And she added: “That ten women have already detected a health anomaly thanks to the use of Palpa already fills us with hope.”
When researching the topic, Josefa learned that 30 percent of breast cancer cases occur in women under 40 years of age, a segment for which mammography is not indicated, therefore, the most efficient way to detect malignant tumors is through breast self-exam.
In addition, worldwide only 4 percent of women under 40 years of age are examined each month and that deeply caught Josefa’s attention, since she realized that she was one of those who did not, just like her sisters and friends. In this way, he became aware that the low attendance to be examined was true, despite how important it is for health.
Josefa began to think about how misinformation and the normalization of not taking tests leads to postponing a vital diagnosis, so she decided to make this problem tangible, through a device that will educate women, but in a close and friendly way, without scaring her or becoming an extra task, but rather making it part of her daily routine.
That’s how he came up with creating a silicone device that is also a sponge and, because it is shaped like a breast, was friendly and helped to raise awareness of the importance of palpation. By containing a lump inside that simulates a tumor, the device makes it possible to familiarize touch with something abnormal.
What is the Palpa device?
Is a soap dish for use in the showerwhich when used allows to understand what an anomaly in the chest feels like. The user can feel the hardness of a tumor, which is fixed and does not move.
At the same time that it trains the touch, the soap is dispensed so that it can soften the skin and have a better touch when checking your breast.
More information at parati.com.ar
