I had HH cup boobs at 15 but a reduction left me botched – I’ve spent £50k on 13 surgeries & my wounds absolutely stink’
SHE’S had 13 procedures and is now preparing for her fourteenth surgery, to correct a breast reduction that she had 11 years ago.
Content creator Nelly London, 30, who is from Brighton, has recently opened up on her nightmare journey with her breasts.
It all started when Nelly was just 15-years-old, when she would find herself being catcalled, harassed and sexualised, as a result of her large chest.
Not only this, but Nelly described having such large boobs on a small frame as incredibly painful, with even walking extremely difficult.
Although an early teenager, Nelly had HH cup breasts, which she described as hell.
Nelly told Fabulous: “The sexualisation started at 15. It was just general harassment to be honest. Sometimes people would literally just scream the word “t**s!” as I walked past. It was hell.
“I hated the attention from men. I was sexualised from people I knew, from strangers in the street.
“People wouldn’t just give you a subtle look, people would scream and cat call to a level that to a really shy, 15-year-old, I just couldn’t cope with.
“It was so relentless. I remember being out in public with my mum and my dad and grown men were leering at me.
“The pain was significant, I could barely move my upper body, even walking was difficult. Every single movement I made was painful, but it was also painful just doing nothing.
“I was in pain from the moment I woke up, to the moment I went to sleep. Every day. Since I was 15.
“The emotional toil being in constant pain takes is like no other.”
Under the knife… round one
As a result of the pain and harassment she faced, at the age of 19, Nelly made the bold decision to go under the knife and have a breast reduction. It cost her £7,500.
Nelly opened up about her surgery journey in a TikTok video and explained to Fabulous: “When I was 19, I had a breast reduction that went so horribly wrong. I have spent the last 11 years correcting that surgery.
“I went into the surgery as a HH cup and woke up as a D/DD. I literally had a huge weight lifted off my chest. I could suddenly see past my t**s and I could see my toes again.
“It was incredible, but within three days, it all went to s**t.
I then spent the next ten months with open wounds that were trying to heal. They would take up my entire breast. Completely open wounds.
“Three days after the surgery, I noticed a hole in my left breast. Right at the bottom of the anchorpoint of the scar. It wasn’t a small hole. I could see deep into my breast.
“We went straight back to the surgeon and he said ‘you need surgery straight away’. The next day, I was back in hospital, having it closed up.”
The surgeries continued…
“Within a week of that second surgery, I had eight more holes over the stitch lines. My breasts were literally coming apart at the seams. Literally.
“The smell that my open flesh was producing, was like no other.
“I went back to the surgeon. Turns out I was allergic to the stitches. The internal sutras that they used, my body was rejecting.
“Every single stitch was trying to come out of my body.”
But rather than offering to re-do the operation, take the stitches out and put in new stitches, Nelly explained that the surgeon tried to charge her another operating fee.
Who can claim on the NHS?
You might be considered for breast reduction on the NHS if you have problems caused by having very large breasts, such as:
- backache
- shoulder or neck pain
- skin irritation
- rashes and skin infections under the breasts
- grooves on the shoulders from bra straps
- psychological distress, such as low self-esteem or depression
- an inability to exercise or take part in sports
You will have to go through a referral process which will involve questions about your weight, mental health and a psychologists assessment.
The final decision is usually made by a panel of representatives from your local ICB.
She continued: “He basically let us know, in a not so subtle way, that he didn’t want to help.
“I then spent the next ten months with open wounds that were trying to heal. They would take up my entire breast. Completely open wounds.
“As you can imagine, the scars were huge. Most of my breast was taken up by scar tissue. Extremely aggressive keloid scars. Some of them were nearly black.
“I barely left the house during the year that I was healing. The only person that saw the wounds was my mum and the nurses who would help me redress them every week.
“The smell was constant, though, and I did sometimes feel like other people could smell my boobs, I know it sounds awful and it really was.
“An entire year after my surgery, my wounds had finally closed and I wasn’t having to apply fresh dressing every week. I couldn’t have a bath for a year. It was not fun.
“Once I was healed I started looking for another surgeon to essentially start the corrective work.”
From a reduction, to implants
“Since then I think I’ve had about 12 reconstructive procedures, internal scar removal, external scar removal, reconstruction of my nipples, replacement of my nipples, re-doing the reduction and lift, which as you can imagine, left me with very small boobs, as so much of that tissue had to be removed.
“So a year and a half ago, I had more scar revisions and I had implants put in. Implants, after a breast reduction – make it make sense.
“They were the smallest implants you can get in the UK and they were there to stop my breasts from eating themselves with scar tissue. I know it sounds horrible and it really was.
“I thought that was the end of it and that would be my last procedure, but since then I’ve had some more keloid scars come up, especially around my nipples, which are now misshapen and nowhere near round.”
The smell was constant, though, and I did sometimes feel like other people could smell my boobs, I know it sounds awful and it really was.
Nelly is now a DD cup and has spent an estimated £50,000 on surgeries.
She told Fabulous: “All my operations have been private, I wasn’t eligible for surgery on the NHS.
“I think we are at least £50,000 but that is genuinely a I guess. I truly hate to imagine just how much this has cost altogether over the past 11 years.”
Here we go again…
Nelly is set to go under the knife again, as she shared: “So my next surgery is to cut around my nipples again, which is mainly to remove scars. It’s also to remove some scars on my sternum (the centre of my chest) which are currently very large and raised off my skin.
“I am always hoping it’s the final surgery, but I’ve said that before and regretted it. I feel okay, just sad that I have to have more surgery.
“I really struggle with the general anaesthetic and find the whole experience really stressful.
“To be honest I am happy with the size of my breasts now but to be honest, I think I’d be happy any size as long as they were healed and healthy.”
What could go wrong with a breast reduction?
According to the NHS, breast reduction surgery can sometimes result in problems, including:
- thick, obvious scarring
- unevenly shaped breasts or nipples, or differences between your breasts
- wound healing problems
- loss of nipple sensation
- being permanently unable to breastfeed
- losing blood supply to part of the skin, fat or nipple, causing problems such as lumpy breasts if the area dies (necrosis)
- excess skin left around the scars, which may need to be surgically removed
- bleeding inside the breast tissue (haematoma) – this generally happens within the first 24 hours after the operation
For those looking to get a reduction, Nelly revealed: “Needless to say, it has been a process. When I first got a breast reduction, there is no way I thought that 10 years later, I’d be having to correct the initial operation.
“Even though I had so much go wrong with my operation, I would still recommend it to anyone because I’m so much happier now than I was when I had HH cups. That’s mainly because I’m no longer in pain which was the main reason for me wanting surgery in the first place.
“But just make sure you find a surgeon that you feel 100% comfortable with, and that can take a really long time, but please put the time and effort into meeting with as many surgeons as you can to get as many opinions as possible.
“Don’t go with the first surgeon you found like I did when I was a naive 19-year-old.”
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