BreastScreen Tasmania is celebrating saving thousands of lives in 20 years of service, but wants more women to get checked.

Since 1993 more than 100,00 women have been screened for the disease.

State Manager Gail Ward says technology and awareness have improved, boosting the number of women being screened to almost 60 per cent.

She says participation and survival rates have increased in that time, but many women are still afraid of mammograms.

There remains women in the target group of 50 to 60 years old who are not using the free service.

"We're not diagnosing as many cancers early as we could be," she said.

"The early diagnosis of cancer is no longer the death sentence that it used to be, women survive if we diagnose those cancers early."