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Celebrity supermodel Elle Macpherson disclosed in an interview with聽聽earlier this week that seven years ago she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Media coverage around the world said Macpherson聽聽some 鈥渃onventional鈥� treatments for the type of breast cancer she had disclosed, known as HER2-positive oestrogen receptive intraductal carcinoma.

This is not the first time we鈥檝e seen powerful celebrity stories about cancer have the potential to influence the public health narrative. Sometimes these celebrity stories have changed cancer screening and聽.

For instance, after singer Kylie Minogue announced her breast cancer diagnosis in 2005 there was an unprecedented聽听产辞辞办颈苍驳蝉.

Actor Angelina Jolie鈥檚 op-ed in聽聽in 2013 about her preventative double mastectomy for breast cancer may have inadvertently聽聽among women not at high risk.

And when actor聽聽in 2016 that the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test he had taken in his late 40s had saved his life, this was in contradiction to聽. These recommend men under 55 do not use the PSA test because prostate cancer can often be聽.

Organisations, such as Breast Cancer Network Australia, have聽, worried that Macpherson鈥檚 comments might encourage an approach to treating invasive breast cancers that includes the use of non-evidence-based 鈥渨ellness鈥� products and interventions.

But media coverage of Macpherson鈥檚 situation has largely missed a key piece of information: her breast cancer is not invasive.

The type she disclosed is commonly known as聽. This is a cluster of pre-invasive or non-invasive breast cancer cells. It differs from invasive breast cancer in that the lesions are contained and have not spread. This means that treatments for invasive and non-invasive breast cancer聽.

In fact, Macpherson appears to have followed recommended treatment for her cancer. She did have surgery, a lumpectomy to remove the DCIS.聽聽recommend patients weigh up the possible benefits and risks of the additional treatments that Macpherson said her doctor offered: mastectomy surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and hormone therapy. Together with their treating team, each patient may decide whether any of these additional treatments are right for their individual situation.

There are ongoing research trials looking into who is most likely to benefit from these additional treatments, and who might not need them at all. Therefore, Macpherson鈥檚 decision to decline the additional treatments may have been both a reasonable and a conventional decision for a woman with non-invasive breast cancer.

This missing information from the media is also a missed opportunity to discuss less invasive options for the management of DCIS.

The rate of聽聽since the introduction of breast cancer screening. You can detect it on a mammogram but it rarely causes symptoms. Many of these lesions are unlikely to ever cause a problem in a woman鈥檚 lifetime. As a result of this聽聽are considered to be聽.

Now options such as active surveillance (closely monitoring but not providing treatment unless the condition progresses) are considered reasonable and are being robustly evaluated in research trials to help reduce overtreatment.

We need to be wary of simplistic narratives about celebrity cancer journeys that don鈥檛 necessarily tell the whole story. This should also include scepticism over 鈥渨ellness鈥� narratives聽聽non-evidence-based treatment choices that waste consumers鈥� money and may cause them harm.

We all need to get better at being聽聽about health information without losing trust in proven health interventions.

A breast cancer diagnosis can create a flood of different emotions, and presents a woman with many uncertainties including the effectiveness of treatments, and about their potential side effects and long-term impacts.

Women can ask their health professionals聽聽about possible management options, including:

• what are my options? One of these options might be to choose less treatment, including an active surveillance approach for low-risk DCIS

• what are the possible benefits and harms of those options?

• how likely are each of those benefits and harms to happen to me?

The Conversation approached Elle Macpherson鈥檚 spokesperson to clarify details about her diagnosis and treatment but did not receive a response before publication.

This story was first published on聽听补蝉 'Elle Macpherson鈥檚 breast cancer: when the media reports on celebrity cancer, are we really getting the whole聽story?'.聽Dr Brooke Nickel聽s a NHMRC Emerging Leader Research Fellow in The University of Sydney School of Public Health. Associate Professor Claire Hooker is a Senior Lecturer and Coordinator, Health and Medical Humanities at the University of Sydney. Professor Katy Bell is a Professor of Clinical Epidemiology, Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney.聽

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