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Fatwa CenterApplying creams to the skin does not break the fast
Question
I have a question. My breasts have totally changed since having 4 kids and they are so small, my husband is turned off by them, and he doesn't like to see them. So I want to use a breast cream for this purpose to make them bigger. I am afraid if I don't use something for them, my marriage may suffer. Also, is it permissible to use this during Ramadan? Or will it make my fasts invalid?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
Applying cream to the surface of the body, whether to the breast or any other part, does not nullify fasting because it is not food or drink and does not resemble food and drink. Majmoo‘ Fataawa of Shaykh Ibn Baaz 
(15-260) reads: “As regards beautifying the face with soap or cream or other items which pertains to the surface of the skin, like henna and makeup, then all this does not affect one’s fast…" [End of quote].
According to the opinion we adopt here at Islamweb concerning the fasting person who applies cream to his body: “There is no text in the Quran or the Sunnah, or consensus, or evident analogy indicating that whoever applies cream to his/her skin and perceives its taste or scent, his/her fasting will be broken, nor is it similar to the things that break the fast mentioned in the Sharee’ah texts. Shaykh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said in his book “The Reality of Fasting”, p51, while talking about breaking the fast with kohl: 'Had this been among the things that break the fast, the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, would have clarified it, as he did with other things that break the fast. Since he did not clarify that, we come to know that it can be classified under perfume, incense and oil. Incense may go through the nose and enter the head, and turn into a solid substance; and oil is absorbed by the skin and enters inside it, thereby man gets strength by it in the same way as he gets strength by means of perfume. Since the fasting person has not been forbidden from these things, then this proves that it is permissible for him to use perfume, incense, oil and kohl." [End of quote].
As for increasing the size of the breasts, we have already mentioned in previous Fataawa, such as Fatwa 88193 and Fatwa 87248, that if one is to use harmless medicines to treat a defect in the body that may cause harm to the wife or the husband, then this is permissible so long as there is a necessity or need for it, and it is not considered a change in the creation of Allaah The Almighty. Thus, what you wish to do is permissible.
Allaah Knows best.
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