23-year-old Rebecca Butcher suffers from a rare malformation that led to only one of her breasts developing • Although offered for free surgery, Butcher insists it was not a defect: "I should not be corrected"
23-year-old Rebecca Butcher from Yorkshire in the UK is a young and confident woman, despite suffering from a rare deformity that for many others would probably have been a source of shame.
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Butcher suffers from a rare syndrome known as Poland Syndrome, a rare congenital malformation characterized by the underdevelopment or absence of one of the pectoral muscles, and is more prevalent in men than in women, when in addition to breast size inequality, the syndrome is often characterized Chest.
In Butcher's case, her right breast grows to the size of a Cap D while her left breast remains the size of a Cap A, which of course is reflected in a marked asymmetry in her breast.
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Butcher says she notices that her breast develops asymmetrically in adolescence, but despite repeated inquiries from many doctors, the answer she received ranges from indifference to the claim that it is a completely normal phenomenon of adolescence that will pass when her body finishes developing and has no cause for concern.
While her physical health was normal, Butcher says she suffered from repeated bullying and teasing as a teenager, often being tossed around with comments that her body was twisted and would never be able to find a relationship and love with such a flaw.
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Growing up, and after conducting an independent study that led her to discover the fact that she suffers from the rare Poland syndrome, Butcher was offered to undergo plastic surgery at the expense of the fund to balance her breasts but she refused.
"I did not want the surgery," she said.
"I told the doctors I was not interested in surgery but in information about why I am who I am. I do not want to change that, but to learn how to live with it. I do not need to be corrected."
She adds that because it is a rather rare phenomenon, the information about it is not much, and many times it is not diagnosed.
Those who suffer from it enter a cycle of shame and concealment, a phenomenon that Butcher has decided to do everything in its power to eradicate, mainly through raising awareness, sharing and support.
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"At 18, I uploaded a video to YouTube because I didn't want anyone to feel like she was dealing with it alone and she had no one to talk to or share," she said.
"In the years since, I get messages on a weekly basis from those who suffer from it or have children who experience it and ask for advice."
"Many women tell me they have never experienced a relationship because of the fear that someone will see their breasts," she shared the anxieties of the women who turn to her.
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Butcher, who has been in a relationship for two years, said she always tells those women that the right man will love them for who they are.
"If someone does not love you because of your breasts, then he is not the right person for you," she said.
"If he cares more about your breasts than your feelings he is not a nice person."
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Butcher currently maintains an Instagram page with more than 7,000 followers, a YouTube page with more than three hundred followers and a WhatsApp group with more than a hundred women, in which she shares photos, videos and information and serves as an ambassador for body image and empowerment.
"When I was young, I used to wear golf collars and hide. Today I wear what I want," she said. "It's important to understand that it's a vicious circle. People do not turn to doctors with it and then the doctors do not know what it is or how to treat it and do not diagnose it, and that is what needs to change," she concluded.
