Introduction: Breast self-examination practices constitute the fundamental pillar in the early detection of breast cancer, which entails an early diagnosis and timely treatment. Objective: To know the current state of breast self-examination practices in the female population through an integrative review. Methodology: Descriptive and retrospective research, corresponding to an integrative review of the scientific literature. Results: The analysis sample was made up of 72 publications indexed in 12 databases selected internationally. It was identified that there was a predominance of investigations carried out in Colombia, followed by Cuba and Mexico. The main authors were mostly nursing with 63.87%. 68% of the publications were made on the female population and 32% on health officials. It was evidenced in terms of the category of knowledge that most women do not know how to perform breast self-examination adequately and therefore the level of knowledge is low. Among the identified barriers were ignorance, modesty, fear, negligence and lack of awareness about the breast self-examination technique. Conclusion: Considering that the Breast Self-Exam is a basic and easy tool to perform, with adequate training and follow-up. It was evidenced that there is a low level of knowledge, which makes specific training on this subject necessary and the contribution of nursing to the different communities.