"I Struggled with My 38JJ Breasts, Battling Pain and Debt After NHS Denied My Surgery"

A MUM says she was forced to take out a £8,500 loan against her mortgage to reduce her 38JJ breasts by 12 cup sizes – after she was denied surgery on the NHS.

Mandy Humphries, 47, lived in constant agony, as her nine-pound breasts weighed her down and made even simple household tasks a painful struggle.

The education sales consultant, from Southport, was told as her was over 27, she couldn’t have a reduction on the NHS – despite the fact that her breasts had hardly shrunk in size at all after a four and a half stone weight loss.

In desperation, Mandy took out a loan against her mortgage to pay for an £8,500 at a private clinic, which she will be paying off over the next five years.

Following surgery, she went down to a C cup in August 2026, and said that the procedure has already changed her life.

Mandy said: “They were massive; they looked like two pieces of meat hanging up in the butcher’s shop.

“They went right down to my belly button; they looked like a massive turnip at the end of a pair of tights.

“The BMI criteria is archaic; the size of my breasts was not normal.

“I know of women whose breasts are a lot smaller than mine who’ve got because they are slimmer.

“I’m excited to be able to do the housework and take the dog for a walk without a massive bra on.

“It’s changed my life so much already.”

Mandy has always had large breasts, and by age 17, she was a double D, despite having a very slim frame.

As she got older, she grew to a size G, but her struggles really started after she became pregnant with her first child in 2007.

“They just went huge, and they never stopped growing,” she said.

By 2023, Mandy’s breasts had grown to a 38K and were making her day-to-day life incredibly difficult.

“It was horrendous; I was just in pain all of the time. It was really affecting my quality of life”, she said.

She constantly suffered from fungal infections and rashes, caused by the muslin cloth she wore to keep her breasts in place rubbing.

In 2024, she was diagnosed with degenerative disc disorder, a condition where the discs between the spine wear down, and in 2025, she was diagnosed with at the top of her spine, both of which were caused by the weight of her breasts.

Simple everyday tasks such as cooking dinner and bending down to pick things up were agony to Mandy.

“I’d be absolutely sweating doing the hoovering; it was absolutely awful”, she said.

As well as being in constant pain, Mandy’s was also affected by the size of her breasts.

“My husband hasn’t seen my breasts since I was 35”, she said.

“Whenever we’d have intercourse, I’d keep my bra on, it massively affected our intimacy.”

Over the years, Mandy had gone to the doctor’s countless times to ask for a due to her back pain but was always told she wouldn’t meet the criteria due to her BMI being too high.

In March 2023, Mandy went to the doctor’s as she had been feeling unwell and was told she had and needed to lose weight.

She embarked on a weight loss journey, and through giving up drinking and going to the gym, was able to go down from 18st 7lbs to 14st 2lbs.

However, despite this, her breasts had only gone down from a K to a double J.

“Even though I’d lost over four stone, they hadn’t really got smaller; they were just longer and heavier”, she said.

In December 2024, Mandy visited the Pall Mall private hospital in Newton-le-Willows and was quoted £8,500 for a breast reduction.

“I just couldn’t afford it”, she said.

In January 2025, she decided to go through the NHS instead, and was booked in for a consultation at St Helen’s Hospital, Merseyside.

However, five days before her appointment was due to take place, Mandy got a devastating phone call.

“They said they couldn’t go ahead with it because my BMI was over 27, and offered me some weight management – I was hysterical”, she said.

Desperate, Mandy took a loan out against her mortgage to be able to pay to have the surgery privately.

“It’s going to cost me £250 a month over the next five years but I just saw it as an investment in my health”, she said.

“I didn’t care if I lost my nipples or they ended up a different shape, I just needed the pain to stop”.

Mandy had a three-and-a-half-hour-long surgery on August 4, during which doctors removed seven pounds of breast tissue.

“That’s as big as a newborn baby”, she said.

“And the crazy thing is that if the NHS had taken the weight of my boobs off, my BMI would have been 27.”

Her breasts are now a C cup, as that was the smallest size it was safe for her to go down to, but Mandy would have preferred to have gone smaller.

“I asked for an A Cup, I almost wanted to look like a boy because all they’ve caused me is pain”, she said.

For the first six weeks after her surgery, Mandy isn’t able to lift anything or drive a car, and it will be 12 months until her breasts are properly healed.

Since the “lifechanging” surgery, Mandy hasn’t had any pain at all in her back and is now so much more confident in her skin.

“I cannot wait to have a better sex life again”, she added.

“I’ve missed it so much and felt undesirable and unsexy for so long.”

She documents her weight loss journey on @mandymoomins.

NHS Cheshire and Merseyside has been contacted for comment.