Nhs breast lift? Anyone had one?

[rosygirl14]

Hi everyone, the title says it all. Has anyone had a breast lift on the nhs?
I understand the NHS is completely stretched to capacity and underfunded, but I know in some cases people have been granted one.

For some context - I’m 21 years old. I had a baby a year ago and due to pregnancy, breast feeding and weight gain / loss I have been left with what I can only describe an elderly woman’s breasts.
They are so embarrassingly awful. My breasts hang well below my waist, I can pull them outwards and fold them. When sitting they hang below my belly button. My nipples hang directly at the floor, and in bras all you can see is all the excess wrinkly skin at the top. I was a D before, and now I can barely fill a B cup.
My mental health has been affected by this so much, it’s ruined my relationship, and whatever self esteem I had left after having my son. I’m so depressed by the state of these and ashamed my body is this way at 21 years old.

@smokingbum all good points but then if it is as extreme as she says then it should be properly assessed by her GP who can then make the call whether or not they justify review by a surgeon. She’s as entitled to that on the NHS as any of us are. She may not be suffering with issues caused by them now, bar the loss of confidence, but none of us are in a position to know what the health of the skin is like or whether they’re likely to cause issues going forward.

@BalletBob I have not issue with her seeking help for her mental health but a boob job isn't going to fix that, only being able to accept herself regardless of how her boobs look will actually help her. Offering surgery for such things was offered on the nhs at one point as it was thought the surgery would be cheaper than proper treatment for poor self image but it was found that people then went on to feel unhappy with results or their unhappiness with themselves would find a new focus.

@smokingbum

I don't live with something about my body that I hate.... I DID hate my breasts but then the NHS did a breast reduction for me and I lived happily ever after, now 19 years later!

Sometimes surgery is the answer

I'm sorry this is affecting you so much. I think that it's very, very unlikely that you'll get it on the NHS. I'd put away a wee bit of money every week, as much as you can afford, ask for money for birthdays/Christmas etc and look at getting it done privately. Good luck.

No way should NHS pay for this when life saving treatments are falling apart. My boobs are not what they were, that's just having children.
I also feel this about skin removal, if you got fat and lost weight, then yes you have excess skin. Life is full of choices and welcome to the world of choice!
Save and pay yourself!

Should women be allowed to have a reconstruction after a mastectomy?

I'm not sure if you're being deliberately obtuse or not. Of course there needs to be some common sense applied and someone who is experiencing mental anguish over typical forehead wrinkles probably needs therapy rather than Botox. Ditto baldness which is very common. But people who are suffering mental anguish due to extreme or very atypical physical attributes should be able to seek help on a case by case basis. There are definitely people who have had "cosmetic" nose jobs on the NHS because their nose was very far from typical and was causing genuine distress. Similarly, women who have undergone a mastectomy and want a reconstruction. Comparing situations like OP's to someone who wants their crows feet disappearing is disingenuous.

I had one on nhs aged 24 same issues as yourself
I do have smaller breast and few scars but it improved my life drastically
I had infection after wards but it was all worth it

Also i was told by everyone no one would do anything and even the GP said thats what u get for having children etc but i pushed and was referred
If its affecting your daily life
Like with myself i didnt even want to breast feed because of them
Then go for it

@BalletBob My 83 year old mother fell and broke her hip...12 hours waiting for an ambulance!!
My friends dad had a stroke.. 8 hours on a chair in A&E (also 80years old)

If there isn't money for basic care..a pair of droopy boobs should not take resources.

If the skin on your face over the course of one year sagged down far enough to touch your collar bone or your nose grew over a year to a length you could bend it back on itself and touch your cheek I would happily argue for your right to be assessed on the NHS for surgical treatment.

I had surgery on the NHS not on my breasts but for a ‘cosmetic’ issue - I did have significant pain /inflammation and functional issues though that had a daily affect on activities, and a history of many years of difficulties. They wouldn’t do it if there were significant psychological issues - that was actively used as a reason for not doing it, as I had anxiety issues - I wasn’t allowed it until that was more controlled.

I had to jump through quite a few hoops, it took three years from first mention of surgery to actually having the surgery but it was all done on the NHS.

My GP pretty much had to beg my case though, and that was quite a long time ago (13 years ago) - I highly, highly doubt that they’d do the surgery I had nowadays.

There’s no harm in talking to your GP though but it was a difficult process in 2011, I can’t see it having improved now.

I approached the doctor for surgical hep a few years ago as I have one breast 2 cup sizes bigger than the other. I’m very conscious of it and it’s always knocked my self esteem hugely. I was refused help and told to get professionally fitted with a bra. Now in a few years on I’ve lost 5st, have excess skin and my boobs are like flappy spaniels ears. I know I won’t get any support from the NHS and financially I will never be able to afford to go private. I’m trying to make peace with my body which is a hard thing to do.

I tend to wear a bra all the time. At night I wear a sleep bralette which gives me some support and makes me feel less self conscious. My partner knows how I feel about my body and he’s always really supportive but it’s still difficult.

I haven’t tried again for an NHS referral as know the chances are slim and I also wouldn’t feel right due to the state the NHS is in. I have a health condition that is currently getting a battering because of the NHS struggling, I don’t see people for that so I have no chance of seeing someone for something like boobs.

Also worth a mention they will never be pert like a teen mine are still quite low but in comparison to what they was fantastic like i had to hook them in bra before
Also they do take your nipple off and reattach it back on and i have less sensation

@smokingbum

@BalletBob Well said Ballet. My friends sister had nose surgery on the NHS. People DO (well did before the NHS effectively collapsed) have cosmetic procedures on the NHS for mental health reasons

Your age and the possibility you will have more children may go against you for surgery on the NHS.

Go private and get 0% finance over 5 years that’s what everyone I know has done.

Changed their lives too.

Can your Mum not lend you the money?

0% credit card?

Women don't all have "shit boobs" after pregnancy. Honestly.

Breast lifts and reductions have very positive outcomes I understand. Of course it's important if it's trashing a woman's confidence.

I had exactly the same thing when I had my baby at 21 OP. I was absolutely gutted and thought I'd never show my breaststroke ever again. I had a breast lift at Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead. This was back in the 1990s but its a good bet because they are a specialist burns and plastic surgery hospital rather than a general hospital. Give it a go. They did mine because I was so young and it was affecting my mental health. They also have an excellent private cosmetic surgery unit with payment plans. Good luck.

The issue there is that the NHS is woefully underfunded, not that OP is a chancer or undeserving. The way some posters are speaking to/about her is shocking. Including you with your dismissive "droopy boobs" comment. She's not vain and wanting an upgrade, gratis. She is deeply distressed and experiencing a loss of quality of life. There are many, many things that the NHS funds that are non-life saving. Perhaps you would like to justify your deservedness and be compared to other, sicker, people every time you wish to see a GP or be treated?

Having no breast/s due to a serious illness like breast cancer is totally different to having a post partum body. We have no idea what the OPs body is like in reality as its likely that her perception of how she is will be distorted. Of course private surgeons are going to tell her she needs the surgery as they stand to make lots of money from her.

Most women have children and most experience changes to their bodies as a result and many of them have significant distress due to these changes, if you want to open the door to every women who would like cosmetic surgery after childbirth then perhaps you would like to volunteer to pay extra tax to help cover the cost?

Resources aren’t allocated that simply though. A breast surgeons schedule doesn’t affect the running of an A&E or paramedics and a breast surgeons skills are unlikely to be particularly helpful to orthopaedics or neurology. The budget allocated to breast surgery won’t be directed to urgent care. There will be a breast surgeon budgeted for even when, like now, the rest of the NHS is struggling.

Patients for elective procedures don’t trump life saving ones. By rights a surgeon should have time available for elective surgery including post cancer reconstructions. Cases like the OP’s would be allocated from the very bottom of the pile when and if the surgical lists allowed.

👏👏👏👏👏

Absolutely. PP are being willfully ignorant.

really sorry but you probably need some counselling possibly through the NHS ?

Well then I will make an appointment tomorrow to see my GP and demand that I am also given cosmetic treatment which would help my mental health and self esteem, improve my employability and relationship success after all if other people have it free then why shouldn't I or anyone else for that matter, to hell with people who can't get funding for life saving drugs or long waiting lists.

A quick Google shows me that Sussex ICB do not fund maxopexy (breast reductions), I'm not being funny but that Google search took me less than 30 seconds.

I think you will need to save up or find ways to get better body image.

@BalletBob
I'd like to live in a world where 80 year olds don't have to wait 12 hours for an ambulance....
Boobs, droopy, saggy, not as firm as they were, whatever term YOU deem acceptable?? Are not a priority in an over stretched, underfunded service which can't treat life threatening conditions.

Theres only so much money and it should never be spent on cosmetic enhancement, no matter how much that makes people unhappy. Save up and pay for enhancements, or don't do anything that will risk your perfect boobs.