Has anyone had a breast enlargement on the nhs in the last few years

If you have anorexia and are extremely underweight (as you have suggested), it is unlikely that breast implants will be the miracle cure you think they might be. You will just find something else to worry about.

I'm sorry OP - no easy answers.

I really don't like using words like "abnormality" but I'm trying to make the distinction between something like "I hate my nose because it's like my aunt's; it's too long and got a bump at the top, I want surgery to get a cute button nose" and "my nose developed atypically in the womb/healed in a bizarre-looking way after an injury, and I want it fixed because I always feel like people are looking at me".

Also there are lots of people have a diagnosable issue that makes them look different to the average human you pass on the street, and absolutely don't want to change it, or it's something that can't be changed anyway, and they live their lives in whatever way, manage the issues, advocate for themselves and people with visible differences, or use social coping strategies, or think "fuck you" at people being arseholes, or whatever. But there are still some conditions where it's fairly normal and accepted that treatment with the primary aim of an aesthetically-typical appearance is an acceptable thing to do and a legitimate goal, and that it can sometimes be an effective use of resources, especially if the person may suffer distress or develop other issues because of the way they look.

It's really not that strange a thing to ask about, outside of this weird thing we seem to have where we talk about about protecting and saving the NHS, while defending and cheering for the removal of healthcare we used to think was worthwhile and necessary, like cutting off possibly cancerous growths without having to lie about impaired vision.

That's true, though I think people overestimate the power, efficacy and availability of mental health support.

And the main reason I mentioned it is that you're not comparing like with like. Being a woman without breasts in a society where (for some reason) large numbers of women don't appear to have breasts at all is very different to being a woman without breasts in a society where every single woman except you seems to have breasts, it's treated as an intrinsic part of being a woman, and breasts in general are freighted with meaning about femininity and attractiveness and personality and vulnerability and motherliness and comfort and obscenity and danger and matronliness and sexuality and class and age and fertility etc. etc. etc.

Maybe surgery would help the OP specifically, maybe not. But even in cases where the treatment truly is purely about fixing some noticeable physical abnormality to make them look more typical (in the hope this will have beneficial effects on the way they can live their lives), automatically dismissing a treatment as cosmetic and therefore not worth spending taxpayer money on would be short-sighted IMO.

In carefully-assessed circumstances, this kind of treatment can be medically justifiable, even if it's entirely about the way you look. It can improve quality of life, increase functioning, maybe prevent expensive mental and physical illness down the line.

But sometimes it won't help, because the issue is really elsewhere, or it goes wrong, or a lot of other things. I'm really not on the side of "Go OP, go demand your breasts!"

I just think that some posters were being pretty glib and unpleasant to a distressed woman. OP wanted to know how to navigate the NHS system to request surgical treatment for a medically-diagnosed and very visible physical issue, one that she feels is profoundly affecting her quality of life and mental health. What she got was a thread where I feel like the combined effect is a crowd of people berating her as greedy, vain, selfish, shallow, not trying hard enough, on and on.

Breast implants on chests / torsos with very little body fat.... unfortunately they just don't look natural (my cousin has it done and then quite swiftly undone). OP if you have a very athletic chest with little body fat and a bony chest wall, be realistic about your likely result (if you get the money together).

Where do you think societal pressures come from?

Similarly, I'm not going to keep acne on my face to normalise textured skin for teenagers, no thanks 😂

How long do you think you could wait even if they say yes op? I’ve been warned reconstruction after breast cancer is a 2 year waiting list for me and they won’t even put me on it till all my other treatment is finished.

I just think that having an eating disorder wi contribute to having no breasts and it’s a good place to start treatment. Then a psychiatrist can help if referral is needed

No it's not. Unless op is bullying others, she's not reinforcing anything. And it's not her responsibility to suffer on the off chance that there is a another woman out there like her

It’s giving into societal pressure and reinforcing the societal pressure on others.

Honestly, I don't think mental health support is the answer to everything.

If a woman had b-cups and it was affecting her confidence to the point that she was having body dysmorphia, then therapy makes sense imo. Sounds like a temporary problem based on skewed perceptions.

But to have basically no breast tissue at all - plus the problems described by op - I don't see why not just have enlargement.

Maybe it's giving in to societal pressure, but it's not for op to be a beacon of inspiration to others at the expense of her own mental health.

social pressures and psychological forces

Both of these can be treated with mental health support.

Surgery does nothing but reinforce the social pressures and psychological forces.

OP didn't say A cup or AA cup, though. She says she's been given a medical diagnosis for her lack of breast tissue, and that when her baby tried to feed, its face was pressed straight up against ribcage. That's no cup at all.

BTW what country is this where huge swathes of the female population have no noticeable breast tissue? Every time I've seen woman from any country, the overwhelming majority have some noticeable breast tissue, of varying shapes and sizes obviously. A cup, AA cup, whatever, if the bra cup is cup-shaped then it's cupping something. Women's breasts are a secondary sexual characteristic — a functional organ and a sexual signal, and they might be big or small but they're nearly always there.

But anyway, in your example society where vast numbers of women are completely flat-chested, women who appear not to have breasts may not be as vulnerable to the social pressures and psychological forces that exist in a society where breasts carry the significance they do here.

I can only go by what the OP has written here so I've no idea whether surgery will actually help her or not, but I'm fairly sure that if she genuinely has no discernible breasts, it's not going to be much comfort that women in country x have smaller breasts on average than women in the UK.

I highly doubt this would be approved and your surgeon would likely have to make an application to CCG for it. They are ruthless and will reject it mental health grounds or not especially with so many trusts in deficit. That’s if you can convince the surgeon to actually make that application.

Everything seems to be a postcode lottery. I know a young transman who has had egg freezing and top surgery (double mastectomy for those who don't know what that involves) via private clinics paid for by the NHS. And yes before anybody questions it I know for certain it's been paid for by the NHS.

Your first port of call should be a good therapist. There is nothing wrong with your body; the issue is how you perceive your body. That should be addressed first.

While you’re accessing therapy, save up for the surgery. If you still want it when you have enough money, then go for it.

Yes but there are whole countries where the average breast size is A or AA cup - there's a huge swathe of the female population without noticeable breast tissue. Surely the answer isn't to give surgery to all of them - but to get people to accept that you don't need large breasts to feel attractive and be happy in your skin, preferably through therapy, not surgery

Obviously not blindly 🙄. But saying he doesnt know so off you pop is not good enough.

No it isn't - the GP's job is not just to blindly refer the patient to a specialist in the hope she might get some help. If they refer incorrectly she will just be bounced back into primary care without being seen.

I think you should ask for a more knowledgeable gp first. So what if yours hasnt come across it before? His job is to refer. Ask him to refer you to someone who knows more.

My post wasn't really about that. It was about the dismissiveness of some of the responses I was reading — people replying to a poster who'd said that her breast development is so minimal that it's contributed to serious mental health problems, that the underdevelopment was severe enough even to affect her ability to feed her child, and asking about whether the NHS can provide a medical treatment that could help improve her overall health. Responses like

"The NHS wouldn’t give me a breast reduction despite my spine being damaged. What makes you think they’ll give you cosmetic surgery?"

and

"The NHS would not fund this, it's cosmetic. You will have to fund it yourself."

and

"Why do you think the NHS is going to give you cosmetic surgery?"

Short, snippy, dismissive posts, bundling up the whole complicated issue into a tidy little putdown.

I'm aware that fewer and fewer procedures which might conceivably be able to be characterised as "cosmetic" are being made available on the NHS. The stories on this thread from people who've been refused treatment they need are horrendous and infuriating. People left to either pay out themselves, or live with the physical and/or psychiatric consequences. "It's cosmetic" is so often a spurious justification, exploiting the fact that some people may choose to have that treatment for cosmetic reasons to get out of having to provide it to people with a clinical need.

I understand that the NHS is struggling but the answer isn't to just lie down and accept that the NHS in many cases won't help people who need, deserve, and are entitled to medical care, so long as they can find an excuse not to, like "it's cosmetic". People with genuine medical needs are essentially smeared as just vanity-driven freeloaders, and I can't believe so many people are buying into that bullshit. If the NHS is broken, we're not going to fix it by buying into lies about patients who've been failed.

(I have a minor experience with something similar. A few years ago, DP saw the GP about a dodgy growth on his eyelid. The GP said that it could be suspicious, but that this kind of lump is considered a cosmetic issue and therefore not the NHS's concern — "but it's affecting your vision now, yes?" <meaningful nod, gaze held> The thing was a small coloured lump that he could barely perceive, and only if he made the effort, and she knew damn well he could see fine. But the only way the GP could get him seen by the right people was to bend the truth. The NHS is so keen to offload as much as possible into the "not our problem" bin that it seems like alm"st anything that can be deemed potentially cosmetic will be. Turns out it was a skin cancer, which recently came back, so it's back to the ophthalmic surgeon and fingers crossed he doesn't lose too much eyelid. "Cosmetic" 🙄 Thank fuck for rule-bending GPs.)

I suspect it is almost impossible but I wanted to validate what you are going through and recognise that it must be causing you psychological pain.

Also, even if the NHS can’t or won’t fund it, does not mean it is not a medical condition. It means it is not cost effective compared to other medical conditions but it does not invalidate the fact it is medical.

If you are up for a fight, have a google of your local ICB (integrated care board, used to be known as CCG) and see if you could make an Individual Funding Request. It is probably not likely but sometimes it helps to know you’ve explored each and every option. 💐

As a woman with congenital symmastia as well as one significantly bigger, i understand completely how badly boob issues mess with your mental health. I'm in pain constantly too as theres no "in between" bit over my sternum for bras to sit, its just like folding a piece of paper, one crease down the centre if pushed together, so underwires are never sat where they're meant to, but i need padded cups to hide the assymetry. I'm disabled so not able to get any kind of loan etc for boobs as i dont have the income for it as cannot work, so i'm stuck with them, and absolutely they affect my relationship.
I really hope you are able to reach a solution that improves your confidence and mental health, be that NHS or privately.

It’s always worth asking. I did about 30 years ago and it was a no.

I’d honestly be surprised considering at work it took over 2 months to get a printer cartridge 🤦🏻‍♀️ & I send all my drs letters electronically as much as possible but there’s always one practice determined to stay in the 1980’s.

@nobreasts you need to look at the ICB policies not the hospital trust. I don't know where you live but here is the link to find them
https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/find-your-local-integrated-care-board/

If you can't see it covered under their guidance then I'd check NICE and see if they have guidance that covers your situation. Assuming one of these is positive, You can then ask the GP to refer you to the secondary care team who do breast augmentation/reconstruction