A young woman who only ever grew one breast has spoken out about her ultra-rare condition.
Becca Butcher first realized she was only developing one breast when she went through puberty. However, for years, doctors told her that she had nothing to worry about.
Eventually, Butcher had to diagnose herself with an ultra-rare syndrome before medical professionals would do anything about it.
Now 24, the UK woman has taken to social media to share her journey and create a support network for other people suffering from the same condition.
In a TikTok video that has amassed over 2.3 million views, Butcher explained her diagnosis.
"I noticed it when I went through puberty that one of my boobs was growing and the other one wasn't," she recalled.
"I went to my doctor and they said, 'you haven't finished going through puberty yet. It's fine. It's nothing. It will grow. It's normal for women to have one bigger than the other. Come back if it hasn't changed in a few years,'" she added.
Butcher continued: "At that time I was 13 or 14 years old, but I went back to my doctors again when I was 16 or 17. They said, again, 'you still haven't finished going through puberty. It hasn't finished developing yet. Come back again in a few more years.'"
However, by that point, the fact that Butcher only had one breast was becoming more and more noticeable. "I was having to stuff my bra with socks, and I was wearing turtle necks to hide it because I didn't want anybody to know," she described.
So Butcher took matters into her own hands. After doing some research online, she came across PS or Poland Syndrome - a muscle deformity that normally affects the hand but which can also affect the chest area.
She showed the research to her doctor and they agreed to look into the possibility that she had PS. But after several years of being shunted between specialists who repeatedly diagnosed and undiagnosed her, Butcher gave up on doctors altogether and turned to the internet.
"I decided to just find a community of people like me and ask them about how it affects them, and work it out for myself," she said.
Despite being told by doctors that her condition was extremely rare - one doctor even offered to let her name it because they claimed she was the only person it had ever affected - Butcher soon found that there were many people in the same position as her.
In an interview with Cosmopolitan, she explained how as soon as she started posting about PS online, inbox was flooded with hundreds of messages from women around the world."
"They'd tell me I'm the first person they've seen talking about PS, and how they're no longer embarrassed by the way their body looks. Some of them wouldn't have even known they had Poland Syndrome if they hadn't have found me – in the same way I likely still wouldn't if I'd not seen that Google image all those years ago," she added.
Since then, Butcher has set up a WhatsApp group for around 150 women, where they share their experiences and stories.
She also continued to use her social platforms to promote awareness for the rare condition.
