My Breast Reduction
If she had known how life-changing breast reduction surgery would be, writer Emma Gunavardhana says she would have gone under the knife decades earlier
Breast reduction surgery is on the rise. It was the second most popular surgical procedure for women in the UK last year, up 120%. And I’m yet to meet another woman who has had the operation and doesn’t feel as evangelical about it as me.
I had this surgery, officially called a mastopexy, in 2019 at the age of 41. There are so many positives to having done it, but I still remember how terrified I was about going under the knife. My breasts were healthy and it felt incredibly self-indulgent to want to reduce them. However, I appreciate now how self-conscious they made me feel, how difficult they made exercising, finding clothes that fitted, and the attention they drew even when I tried to minimise them.