Taxpayers are covering a bill of roughly £6.5 million for transgender men to have their breasts removed on the NHS, with the number of such procedures rising sharply in recent years.
Rising surgery numbers
In 2022-23, NHS surgeons carried out 734 trans mastectomies. That figure increased to 1,115 in 2024-25. Estimates reportedly from NHS England show each operation costs £5,800, suggesting the total cost for 2024-25 was £6,467,000.
The figures, reported by the Telegraph, also show a rise in procedures to create an artificial penis. In 2022-23 there were 270 such operations, rising to 322 this year. That procedure reportedly costs an average of £32,000 per person.
Other procedures and official response
The number of surgeries to make an artificial vagina fell from 420 in 2022-23 to 364 in 2025-26.
In a statement, an NHS spokesman said that while overall surgeries fell by 16% last year, the broader increase reflects a global trend in more people coming forward for care for gender dysphoria.
Charity criticism
Helen Joyce, Director of Advocacy at the charity Sex Matters, said: "Given that we know the vast majority of elective mastectomies relating to gender identity are performed on girls who haven't reached the crucial age of brain maturity at 25, the sharp rise in the number of these surgeries in recent years is a tragedy.
"These girls are at the peak age of being influenced by cultural and social activism and often cannot grasp the regret that they may later feel. We know of detransitioners who have become mothers and grieve that they cannot breastfeed their babies."
