“Small breasts may not draw as much attention on the subway or the street as bigger breasts do, but they are also a fashion,” clinical psychologist and best-selling author Lisa Miller wrote in The New York Times last year as part of her observation of the American boom in breast reductions.
In the most recent figures from the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, nearly as many people had breast reductions in 2023 as they did breast augmentations (also known as an enlargement or boob job), with 4,641 and 4,924 surgeries respectively.
“Whereas big breasts signal motherhood and sexual availability, smaller breasts can convey youth, girlishness, puberty, thinness, androgyny.” This is particularly trendy in 2025 when “coquette” fashion dominates one half of the runways and androgyny dominates the other.
In a New York Times piece on the breast reduction boom, which is also being observed stateside, one Salt Lake City surgeon observed that his patients used to ask for C cups, but now they want Bs.
Surgeons say breast reductions are having a real moment, with Harley Street-based plastic surgery practice The Plastic Surgery Group reporting a “boom” of enquiries in January 2025.
