Consultant Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeon, Mr Naveen Cavale, says that breast reduction surgery has one of the highest patient satisfaction rates when it comes to plastic surgery. “It’s often seen as a cosmetic procedure, but it’s actually a functional surgery. A breast reduction procedure reduces the size and weight of large, heavy breasts and helps create a bust that is in better proportion to the patient’s body. Excess breast tissue is removed, along with fat and some skin. It helps to decrease or eliminate back and neck pain, improves posture and can also help with breathing in some cases. A lot of my patients go on to live healthier lives following the procedure which is why it has such a high patient satisfaction rate.”
So if it can be quite literally life-changing for some people, why is the procedure hard to get on the NHS? “I split my time between the NHS and private work” says Mr Cavale “so I know first-hand the huge stress that the NHS is under. The goal-posts are getting narrower because NHS finances are under immense strain – people living longer, treatments becoming more advanced, and therefore expensive (e.g. in 1960s, for a heart attack, you were pretty much just asked to stay in bed for a few weeks, now it treatments/drugs/physio/community care that costs tens of thousands of pounds). The rise of obesity on the NHS also can adversely affect someone’s ability to get a breast reduction – a lot of people who come asking for a breast reduction are overweight and as a result, the NHS is very strict about who it allows to have surgery, even if their breasts are the thing pushing them over the BMI figure (28) we have to work within.”
