Cosmetic operations will top 1

By: watches2010 Mood: Date: 01/31/2010 18:32:25 Music: None

POPPING out for a breast enlargement or a 'celebrity nose' may soon be as commonplace as picking up a designer handbag, a study suggests.

The boom in cosmetic surgery is being driven by TV shows such as Extreme Makeover MiumiuReplica Handbags and Ten Years Younger which have 'desensitised' people's attitudes to radical procedures.

An estimated 690,000 procedures will be carried out this year, a 40 per cent increase on last year and 240 per cent higher than 2001.

Breast enlargements are seeing the biggest increase with 26,000 women in ReplicaMonogram Jokes the UK undergoing the operation last year - a rise of 150 per cent in two years.

Total spending this year is predicted to total [pounds sterling]539million, while in 2007 this is expected to hit [pounds sterling]695million - more than the nation spends on tea.

The boom is predicted to accelerate with the total number of cosmetic procedures, ranging from Botox injections to face lifts, expected to top one million by 2009 embroideredpatches at a cost of [pounds sterling]912million.

The research was carried out by retail analysts Mintel in partnership with the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons and the Harley Medical Group which has 11 clinics nationwide.

Mintel's senior market analyst Jenny Catlin said: 'Acceptance of cosmetic surgery is growing within the British psyche.

'Exposure to and desensitising of cosmetic surgery through television coverage and the popularity of procedures amongst celebrities has invariably played a key role.'