A British woman discovered by chance she had breast cancer after a visit to the museum.

Ball Gill, a British woman, was visiting Camera Obscura and World of Illusions, a museum in Edinburgh, with her family in May 2019 when something unexpected happened.

Thermal camera detects red heat patch

The 41-year-old woman had gone into one of the museum's attractions -- a thermal imaging camera room -- when one of its cameras detected a red heat patch in her left breast.

Nobody else experienced the same phenomenon as her.

Intrigued, Gill took a picture of the heat patch in her left breast and carried on with her sightseeing.

Diagnosed with early stage breast cancer

When Gill returned home from her holiday, she flipped through her holiday pictures and was reminded of the thermal patch.

Curious, Gill looked up what the red patch could mean on Google and found articles about breast cancer and thermal imaging cameras.

She also discovered that thermal imaging cameras are often used by oncologists as breast cancer detection tools.

Gill then decided to visit a doctor who then diagnosed her with early stage breast cancer.

Gill has since had two surgeries and is awaiting a final one in November to prevent the cancer cells from spreading.

Museum responds

Reaching out to the museum, Gill thanked them for their life-changing thermal imaging camera.

In response, the general manager of the museum, Andrew Johnson, said that they were very moved when Gill contacted them with her story as they did not know that their thermal cameras "had the potential to detect life-changing symptoms in this way".

In addition, he also mentioned that breast cancer is "very close to home" for him and his team, the Metro reported.

Thermography

According to BBC, thermography, or thermal imaging, is a non-invasive test that uses a special camera to measure the skin's temperature on the breast's surface.

As cancer cells grow and multiply fast, "blood flow and metabolism are higher in a cancer tumour as blood flow and metabolism increase, which makes skin temperature rise".

Tracey Gillies, the medical director of NHS Lothian, confirmed that thermal imaging cameras have been experimented with in the past to detect cancer.

However, they have never been a proven screening tool as mammograms are considered more accurate in detecting cancer.

Top image courtesy of Ball Gill via Camera Obscura & World of Illusions and tev411 on Instagram.