Breast reduction - why is it so difficult to get on the NHS?

[SwirlyGates]

I have no skin in the game here, as it were, but I know 2 women who, like those in the article, paid for private operations as their heavy breasts gave them back and shoulder pain. The table lists it under "Reported cosmetic surgery procedures carried out on women in the UK" - and it's conflated with "implant removal" (a different issue I'd have thought, and a choice to get implants in the first place).

I've made a post in this forum as I think it's a feminist issue.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3d2k4xz42no

As well as shoulder grooves and back pain, there are the rashes you can get underneath your boobs., especially in summer, from skin rubbing overnight - unless you can sleep in an underwired bra, it's impossible to stop this happening when lying in bed.

Sorry you have had to wait for your pension to come through to get this surgery done.

But here's hoping you now have anxiety free shopping and lots of free time to go swimming!

She knew several years ago that she would not have them, otherwise yes I agree medically it is sound advice

Breaststroke are ridiculous. No use whatsoever for the majority of our lives but we have to carry the weight all the time

Oh, that's exactly like my shoulders!

I paid for mine to be done privately. They weren't big enough to qualify for NHS. Places like NORDSesthetics in Lithuania cater for european clients and they are very good. Im going back there this year. Much cheaper than the UK and much safer than Turkey.

Just seen this, and although probably relates to other threads thought I would add it hear.

Someone has set up a petition on the Parliament petition web site to ask that the NHS has mandatory training on medical misogyny

Not allowed to post petition links so just posting as a point of information.

Came here to make exactly this point.
As well as back, shoulder and neck pain there is also the delight of recurrent skin rashes underneath the boobs not to mention the psychological effect of men constantly talking to the boobs instead of your face and oggling.

In one of my first proper jobs one of the women who was on the Management Committee was a highly professional woman. Quite serious but friendly and whose paid work took her to many countries.

And because of the problems the size of her breasts had given her in terms of impact on her body, she also said it was inevitable, which ever country she was going to as a lead presenter for the work involved, she had to restrain her anger at how many of the men looked at her chest area and not at her face.

Bad enough she was in a male dominated industry and had to face men who were angry she was more senior, but had to put up with overt sexism.

She did in the end, because the NHS wouldn't do it, pay for breast reduction surgery.

It was difficult, but not impossible to get done on the nhs in the past. My sister had hers done in the late 1990s-she was a 26 back (yes, tiny) and had H plus breasts.

The operation altered her life. She could go out without being sexually harassed just for popping to the shops. She could go swimming. Clothes fit. Her life changed for the better. Her posture improved which meant her back stopped aching. She can buy bras off the leg instead of having to get them altered.

She tried to breastfeed but couldn’t but wasn’t too worried. If she’d have waited until she’d had her children she’d have missed out on so much life.

Any woman in her situation today should be treated in the same way-I believe. And I have had a mastectomy due to breast cancer.

One of my DD had inherited her aunt’s breasts. So if anyone has any suggestions of where to get the reduction done privately, and how much it should cost, please let me know. We are going to do
our utmost to pay for it. This of course will
mean there is less money for education or housing or any of the other bank of mum and dad “treats”

It is misogyny. Woman’s problems..

My breasts are so heavy. Women's bodies are strange.

There's an AMA here and they have all the answers!

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/AMA/4642493-i-had-a-breast-reduction-ama

Thread 2: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/AMA/4876452-weve-had-breast-reductions-ask-us-anything

I think it runs to 5 threads now!

What does AMA stand for?

I read the early posts and nearly fell on my chair at the costs.

Ask Me Anything

You'd be surprised at what gets asked on that board!

re: costs - I know, so expensive. My friend paid 9 grand, but she says it's changed her life

Thanks. Gosh, that is a lot of £.
More woman tax

Must remember that phrase - woman tax!

I'd have more time for the argument about surgical priorities if the NHS paid for non-surgical approaches to managing the problems caused by uncomfortably big breasts: the specialist bras, physiotherapy, pharmacotherapy etc.

Men who develop gynaecomastia (or are at high risk of doing so) as a side-effect of treatment for prostate cancer are routinely offered medication and preventative radiotherapy.

Why not fund research into new treatments for women whose quality of life is affected?

I had a breast reduction on the NHS 20 years ago. I then had another child which undid the results so had another reduction 3 years ago, this time privately of course

the private one produced much better results that the NHS one as it was a properly cosmetic procedure performed by a surgeon who solely does plastic surgery as opposed to what I believe was a general surgeon who did the NHS one

A lady in my area has the most massive breasts, they are voluminous and hang down to her hips. Must be a nightmare, especially in hot weather. She would not be able to get a bra, unless custom made. I often wonder if she has tried to get them reduced on the nhs, or whether she is not bothered, but if I were in that situation, I’d go to the GP or the person refusing the op, lift my top and say “ How would you like to live like this?” Breasts like those are a disability , and should never be regarded as a cosmetic procedure in these cases.

Do you not realise the impact of huge breasts on someone’s life? Not all cosmetic surgery is for vanity reasons.

I was a DD at 11 and a G cup by 16. I was a K during/post pregnancy and am a J now. I have grooves in my shoulders because of the fact my bones were still growing when my boobs got heavier.

DD is a F cup at 15 and it’s really hard to find bras that have a large cup and small back and proper support.

The NHS is in crisis. I lay in bed for a year and a half waiting for an "urgent" hip replacement. I ended up on morphine and suffered devastating muscle wastage.
Anything but urgent gets put to the back of the queue.

I do - they are about 3/4 an inch deep, my back neck and shoulders are constantly sore and I have little sense of touch in my finger tips due to nerve damage from my boobs and yet I still don't qualify for reduction on the NHS.

Apologies to the OP as not breast related but I'm in the same situation with my hip, having been misdiagnosed for six years then even when I finally found out about that it was a misdiagnosis I still had to wait a further 3 years for a hip replacement.
Ironically the most complex cases like mine wait longest because we can't be done under the nhs private sector contracts.
I have been on morphine for 8 years now.
Because my hip has totally collapsed I have a two inch leg length discrepancy and my mobility is very limited.
I am worried about the muscle wastage
I have with pretty much no arse on one side and hardly any thigh.
Has your improved post surgery?

Because it’s a nice to have! Loads of people have back pain for various reasons. When there’s not enough money it needs to go to critical care units not nice to haves!

People need to pay for these things themselves now unfortunately.