Breast reduction on NHS for teenager?

[FireandBrimstone]

Has anyone any experience of their child getting a breast reduction on the NHS? My 14yo is struggling (mainly mentally) with really large breasts.
I appreciate she may be too young to be considered at all at the moment but it's a totally uncharted area for me so just looking for info, experiences, advice. Thanks

Sorry no experience here. All I can add is I have a friend who spoke about this as a teen, said she wanted boob reduction but was going to wait till she had kids as her older sisters ballooned up even bigger from pregnancy and Birth (can't remember if breastfeeding was involved)

I believe most women wait until after children as they have to move the nipple for a reduction so can't breastfeed.

Until that's changed new techniques etc

I've wanted mine done since teen. I'm 50 now and got a consultant appt in august.

Has she seen her GP for any support? That would be the right place to start so everything is on her record. They will know where near she can access mental health support and maybe physiotherapy if it’s causing back pain, or weight loss support if appropriate.
Regarding surgery, breast reduction isn’t routinely done on the NHS but each CCG will have rules about when it would be considered - your GP should be able to tell you about your local ones. Though she wouldn’t be eligible until she’s older and the breasts have finished developing and they may have changed the rules by then.
this is some of the general guidance -

you haven’t mentioned her weight, but I suspect that at her age the psychological support will be most important, and making sure she does not become overweight / obese which would make the problem worse and mean she couldn’t get surgery on the NHS when she’s older

6.4 Reduction Mammoplasty (excluding gynaecomastia)
Status: not routinely commissioned - prior approval via IFR process only1
The NHS will only provide breast reduction for women if all the following criteria are met:
 The woman has received a full package of supportive care from their
GP such as advice on weight loss and managing pain.

 In cases of thoracic/ shoulder girdle discomfort, a physiotherapy assessment has been provided
 Breast size results in functional symptoms that require other treatments/interventions (e.g. intractable candidal intertrigo; thoracic backache/kyphosis where a professionally fitted bra has not helped with backache, soft tissue indentations at site of bra straps).
 Breast reduction planned to be 500gms or more per breast or at least 4 cup sizes.
 Body mass index (BMI) is <27 and stable for at least twelve months.
 Woman must be provided with written information to allow her to
balance the risks and benefits of breast surgery.
 Photographic evidence of the condition is required by the IFR panel –
only photographs taken by medical photography will be accepted

Have you been to any kind of GP appointment about it? I can’t be certain, but I suspect she may have to wait until she’s 18, she’ll certainly need to have a BMI in the healthy category as well.

Have you exhausted all the options of getting her decent bras, etc? Bravissimo is brilliant for small back sizes and big boobs, they even have some non wired bralettes. I’m a 30HH and swear by the panache Envy bra and recently brought a little bralette from them called the Zara which amazingly support them without underwire - ideal in the hot weather.

Good properly supportive bras with firm back bands are so important, back in the days when I was scouting Asda and Primark, etc for bras I found my boobs enormous and unmanageable too, but proper bras are a game changer!

I don’t think that’s true anymore. Whether a change in skill or technique has come about, I’m booked for a mastopexy (breast lift) soon and surgeon has no concerns about inability to breastfeed. The ducts and inside workings of the breast aren’t really altered at all.

The nipple/areola remain attached to the pedicle and is lifted into its new position and then the outer breast skin and fat is reduced and sewn in to place around it.

Breastfeeding likely wouldn’t happen if they’d had to do free nipple grafting, but I think it would be every surgeons choice to absolutely avoid that unless they came across issues with the blood supply when the areola was being re-positioned in the middle of the procedure.

Breastfeeding post breast reduction is complex.
no surgeon can guarantee they are just removing fat because milk producing tissue is dispersed among the fat. Whether breastfeeding is successful will depend on how much milk producing tissue is removed and how much that particular woman had to begin with.

Repositioning the nipple will usually cause let down problems because of the severing of a particular nerve.

Modern breast reduction is better for breastfeeding but still most women are unable to exclusively breastfeed despite the fact their surgeons usually tell them it won’t be a problem. However breastfeeding may or may not be important anyway.

I asked as a teen and my dr told me to wait until puberty finished and after children as potentially breasts could get even bigger

Just keep her off hormonal birth control as that can increase breast size.

My boobs have gone from a dd (teen)to a G now. Menopause. So that's a big increase. I absolutely hate them now. Alway did but now really hate them so that's why I'm Finally taking the plunge. My back is only a 36 and I'm a size 12/14 hip. As a teen younger woman I was a 10 hip so totally out of proportion.

14 is young and her feelings about her breasts may change.

At 14 I would have told you I'd happily had mine removed.

At 25 and the end of puberty, plus a bra intervention, I thought having big boobs was the best feature of my body. 20 years on, my opinion hasn't changed.

Those teen years are hard.