'Suddenly I could see myself': Why breast reductions are more popular now

Ranvia is still haunted by the memory of being wolf-whistled at by an ice-cream man when she was 11 years old. She'd hit puberty a few years earlier, and it was at that point she says the size of her breasts began to impact how she was perceived - and how she saw herself. At school, boys would give her nicknames about her boobs, and touch and squeeze them without consent. "I was still a child," Ranvia says, "but suddenly I had these two body parts that brought attention I was not emotionally ready for." Growing up in a south Asian family in Leicester, Ranvia remembers the embarrassment she felt at not being able to dress the same way as her high school friends. "I couldn't wear [certain clothes] because my boobs would stick out," she says, "and my mum would gasp and say, 'You cannot wear that.'" There was a physical impact, too. Ranvia had back pain, her bra straps would dig into her, and exercise was difficult. Her ADHD also meant the "sensory and emotional intensity of constantly being aware of my body was unbearable". By the age of 25, weighing 50kg with a 32JJ cup chest, Ranvia reached breaking point. Her lifeline, she says, was discovering a breast reduction Facebook group. It