A woman has shared her life transformation after undergoing a breast reduction following years of battling with their size.
Up until this year, Rochelle had never worn a bikini and avoided dating.
The 37-year-old, from Birmingham, suffers from gigantomastia; a rare “debilitating” condition that causes breasts to excessively grow.
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At age 12, she was already an F cup size, growing to 36HH by the time she was 35.
Now, the HR worker is finally able to live life to the full after undergoing a breast reduction – removing six lbs of tissue – and has put her troubling past behind her.
“Throughout school, I felt like I was public property,” Rochelle told Need To Know.
“Boys thought it was OK to grab my breasts and grown men would ogle me when I was out with friends.
“I hid my body as much as I could and became very self-conscious.
“Due to the shame I felt over my breasts, I had trouble dating and it affected my confidence about being in a relationship.
“I used to wear oversized clothes in a bid to cover up.
“But now, I’m like a brand new person.
“I’m more confident in my body and I’m able to finally wear clothes that make me feel good.”
Rochelle recalls her breasts starting to grow at an “alarming rate” from the age of 10.
As her mum and sister also had big breasts, she assumed it was hereditary.
For Rochelle, this stopped her from taking part in physical activity, such as dance classes and impacted her confidence when starting up her own business.
And the HR worker claims her condition was “never taken seriously”.
She said: “I used to be unable to stand for more than half an hour before feeling pain in my back.
“I also suffered from severe neck pain.
“Each time I went to my GP, I was just told to lose weight.
“I looked into having a breast reduction, but due to being Black, I felt it was important to research doctors who had experience operating on Black skin.
“I saw horrific cases of keloid scarring on some Black people from some surgeries, which made me scared.
“This put me off.”
Rochelle continued with her research in a bid to get her life back and came across Mark Solomos.
The leading plastic surgeon, who has over 20 years of experience, has performed over 20,000 operations to date.
He has most recently appeared in Olivia Attwood’s documentary on ITV, The Price of Perfection, and is the “go-to” surgeon for many A-listers.
For Rochelle, finding him gave her the answer she had been longing for.
In December 2022, she went through with the procedure, costing £10,500, and was left with perky 36DD breasts.
She added: “Now, I’m able to shop and date confidently.
“I haven’t yet been on holiday with friends since I had the surgery, but I’m very much looking forward to a girls’ trip soon.
“And I will absolutely be wearing a bikini.
“I’m finally going to the gym for the first time, something I didn’t have the confidence to do before.
“I can also finally buy and wear the clothes of my dreams.
“Shoutout to Mark for being an epic surgeon and for making me feel comfortable the entire time.
“I’m 37 – but my life has only just started.”
Mark added: “Rochelle came to me after suffering from severe back pain, neck ache, bad posture and indentations from wearing ill-fitting bras because of the size of her breasts.
“It wasn’t a simple operation due to Rochelle suffering from gigantomastia and the risk of keloid scarring.
“The surgery took around three hours and we removed more than a kilo from either breast.
“When it comes to keloid scarring, it is very difficult to predict if it will happen or not, but in my experience, I have done thousands of these operations and only seen one keloid scarring in one patient.”
