The Red Cross Hospital is the only public hospital providing plastic surgical services for the Oslo population. The waiting list for reduction mammaplasty had become unacceptably long. Some women had been waiting for as long as 4.5 years. We therefore decided to reexamine all the 309 patients in question. Only 22% were cleared for operation. 19% were removed temporarily from the waiting list due to obesity (awaiting weight reduction). The remainder was found to be either mainly motivated or to be motivated for mainly oesthetic reasons and therefore not eligible for public health funding.