Blind women trained to find breast cancer lumps by feel are better than doctors at the task

Medical Tactile Examiners, or MTEs, are visually impaired women who work in India, Mexico, Colombia, and Austria, using their sense of touch to find breast nodules. These women spend much longer on breast examinations and are capable of finding smaller lumps. Their detection rate in India has been 100 percent so far.

They start with the lymph nodes in the neck, moving down to the collar bone, underarms, and every single centimetre of the breasts all the while being guided by adhesive strips marked in Braille. This ensures that they leave no part untouched and it also helps to report the exact location in case they find a lump.