Anaise Hitchcock, a 24-year-old from York, says she wants her size K breasts completely removed after years of pain, costly bras, and unwanted attention from strangers. Her breasts began developing rapidly when she was 12 and had reached a DD-cup by the age of 15.
Anaise says she was frequently stared at by older men as a young teenager, and the unwanted attention has continued into adulthood. She says her breasts are so heavy that she cannot walk for more than three minutes without needing to rest. Rather than reducing them, she now prefers to have no breasts at all.
Daily struggles and physical pain
“It’s exhausting and I don’t enjoy having breasts at all so I want them gone,” said Anaise. “My life would be easier without them. My back and shoulders hurt and I can’t find a comfortable position to sleep in because they’re in the way. Bras dig in, I get heat rash underneath my boobs and I have permanent discolouration because of it.”
She described the sensation as “like carrying a rucksack but on the front” and noted that she has to be cautious with spatial awareness. “If I sit at a table, I have to push the plate away from me so I don’t spill it everywhere. I’m 5ft 6in – perfect door handle height – so I get bruised a lot from hitting them. Showering is really difficult as well, and trying to wash underneath them is hard because they weigh so much.”
Financial burden and unwanted attention
Anaise, who is currently unemployed, says she only has one bra because she cannot afford to buy more. “I can’t find a physical store that has my bra size so I order online and they’re £90 a bra. I have one because I can’t afford [more]. My boobs hang so low because of the weight of them, so I can’t go swimming and swimsuits don’t fit.”
She also worries about whether men are attracted to her as a person or simply because of her chest. She claims one man repeatedly asked intrusive questions about her breasts while trying to get a date with her. “In relationships, I can’t tell if men are attracted to me because of my breast size and they have a fetish, or if they like me as a person. One guy was trying to get a date out of me and he constantly kept bringing the conversation back to my breasts. He was asking what size they are, if I get them out for people, if I let people touch them. It’s so inappropriate and I told him I wasn’t going to answer.”
She says the prospect of being stared at sometimes makes her stay at home. “I was in town recently and builders were making sound effects and laughing as I was walking. One was chanting ‘boing boing’. It’s so frustrating because they don’t understand how tiring it is. I don’t enjoy living like this. It makes me not want to leave the house.”
NHS refusal and fundraiser
Anaise says the problems began while she was still at school. “My breast development was so rapid compared to people my age and I felt so uncomfortable all the time. I was definitely stared at and there was a big issue with older men staring at me. I spent a lot of time shopping in town and I noticed men staring at me. I was 12, it was so uncomfortable. By 15, I was a DD so it was a rapid growth.”
She claims she had a consultation about breast reduction surgery with the NHS in 2019. Doctors examined her shoulders and checked the indentations caused by her bra straps, but she says she was told that because she had the same symptoms as other women with large breasts, they could not offer her surgery.
Breast reduction surgery is set to cost £9,000, and Anaise has launched a fundraiser to raise £5,000 after claiming she was unable to access the procedure through the NHS. “It’s so disappointing. Just looking at me, you can tell something needs to be done. It angers me, it’s physically tiring, it’s inconvenient in every way. There’s no positive to having breasts this size. If they get bigger, I don’t know what I’ll do. I feel like nobody cares and people think it’s for beauty reasons. They think I want to look better but that’s not true, it’s for health reasons.”
