A 22-year-old, has said she has been denied breast reduction surgery by the NHS due to her BMI. Leonie Reynolds, from Chelmsford, Essex, says she has suffered from severe back pain since her childhood due to the size of her chest and has been asking doctors for a breast reduction since the age of 12.
Leonie said she went to the doctors for her back pain at the age of 12, reports EssexLive, but they told her it was either growing pains or due to the size of her chest, but they couldn't do anything about it until she was 18. She says she was told to take paracetamol and ibuprofen, and "just to kind of get on with it", Leonie said.
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Leonie said "I just got used to a certain level of pain, but I was always tired and a bit lethargic. And I started getting irritable around that age. In hindsight, it was due to the pain I was always in."
Aged 12, Leonie was already had an E-cup bra size, and said she would often get looks, both from people her own age or older. She said: "It was a big point of insecurity for me. I was just the girl with the big chest from day one."
In 2016, when Leonie was 16, the pain became unbearable and she went back to the NHS, who told her to try other avenues, she said. Leonie tried physiotherapy, but was told it was due to the size of her chest and nothing could be done until she was 18.
So once Leonie turned 18, she started trying to fight for a breast reduction. She currently has a bra size of 34H/HH - the average bra size for women in the UK is a 36D. But she said the doctors kept trying alternative solutions, even questioning if she had spinal problems and had an MRI scan, which came back normal.
She was put on co-codamol and other medications. Leonie said: "I was a bit of a guinea pig, trial and error." But nothing happened until 2021, when her doctors finally agreed to put her forwards for a breast reduction.
But the rules around who can have a breast reduction have tightened significantly, and due to Leonie's BMI, she was not allowed to have the surgery, despite meeting all the other criteria. Leonie is 5'4, and says: "My normal weight is 12 stone 2, which I know is bigger than some but I didn't ever see that as big, looking at the frame of my body. I felt like I was in proportion."
She then lost a stone for the surgery, and was then told she still couldn't have the reduction as her weight needed to be stable for two years. Leonie said: "I was just in shock that even with losing so much weight I was still denied."
She continued: "I felt betrayed by the NHS because they knew the overall hope was to get this reduction." Many of the medications she had been put on by her doctors have weight gain as a side-effect and she wishes she'd thought more carefully about taking the painkillers, despite desperately needing to manage her pain.
She said: "Up until last year, my weight wasn't stable, but that's because they told me to lose the weight. For me, it just felt like I've done it all for nothing."
Leonie was forced to quit her jobs in 2019 due to the amount of pain she was in, and the fatigue it was causing her. Leonie said: "I'm so drained and so tired and in so much pain that I can't physically go out to work."
She studied animal management at Writtle University College and was working there during the summer, looking after animals. She said: "I really love animals and I've always wanted to work with them. I feel like I'm most myself when I'm around animals."
But it got to the point where she physically couldn't work any more. Leonie said: "I have got a bit depressed over it. I have a lot of anxiety around it, where I have to realise the direction my life was going in - it's just not going to go in that direction any more."
A breast reduction would get rid of a big chunk of her pain, Leonie hopes and says the surgery would give her a better quality of life. She said: "It would make me feel like myself again, and help me finally do the things I have envisioned for myself."
She wants to be able to go camping, or simply go out with friends, and finally give the young adult her social life back. After the refusal from the NHS, Leonie is now fundraising to have the surgery done abroad, as it's still more affordable than having it done privately in the UK.
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A spokesperson for the Mid and South Essex Integrated Care System, said: “We wouldn’t be able to discuss individual cases, but would ask Leonie to please get in touch with her GP to talk about any concerns she may have, particularly in light of recent changes to our local service policy.
“Breast reduction surgery within mid and south Essex is only offered to patients who meet the clinical criteria set out in our service restriction policy. The eligibility criteria is designed to ensure that surgical procedures, such as breast reduction surgery, are only carried out when clinically necessary, safe, and after other less invasive treatment options have been tried.”
You can donate to Leonie's fundraiser here, and follow her journey on Instagram here.
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