Breast diseases are a threat to the physical and mental health of women. The occurrence of breast cancer and mortality resulting from it ranks the highest among cancer cases in women. Hence, early detection and diagnosis of breast cancer becomes extremely important. Traditional structural imaging has some limitations in early detection of diseases, while infrared thermal imaging, as a functional imaging technology, can provide effective clues for early screening of breast cancer. This work mainly reviews the usefulness of employing infrared thermal imaging in the early detection and prognosis evaluation of breast diseases.