celebrity plastic surgery : On a knife-edge

BY THIS time next year, it is estimated that the British will be spending more on cosmetic surgery than they do on tea - that's a cool £659 million being used to tuck tummies, enlarge breasts, smooth wrinkles and a whole lot more. Once upon a time, plastic surgery was the sole preserve of the rich and famous, performed at discreet clinics and talked about only in hushed tones. Today, going under the knife is as ordinary as having a cuppa.

It's all very well being told to love the skin you're in, but when that skin droops, sags and wrinkles, isn't it reasonable to take action against the ravages of time? Recent research from Mintel found that British consumers will undergo an estimated 690,000 cosmetic surgery procedures this year alone. That's an increase of 40% on the 493,000 carried out last year, and 240% on 2001's figure.

Switch on your television any night of the week and you're likely to come across a TV show dedicated to cosmetic surgery, be it Extreme Makeover, Nip/Tuck or 10 Years Younger. Magazines are filled with cosmetically enhanced celebs, and everyone knows someone who has had Botox.

The concept of growing old gracefully grows more dated by the minute, with Scots eagerly joining the trend - in a new survey by Paperboy, Scotsman.com's daily news e-mail service, almost two-thirds of respondents said that they would definitely consider having plastic surgery.

As for what they would have done, the top three procedures were a face lift (23.5%), a nose job (23.5%) and an eye lift (20.6%), while being able to afford it was the main reason why people would consider going under the knife (42.3%). A third of respondents said they would be willing to pay up to £5,000 for an operation and 15.4% would be willing to get into debt to pay for plastic surgery.

When asked what they would buy if they could make a major purchase right now, plastic surgery was an extremely popular choice, beaten only by a holiday or a new car. These figures suggest that far from being something outwith the realms of mere mortals, plastic surgery is now seen by many of us as both desirable and attainable.

So why are more people opting for cosmetic procedures? Is it due to the terrible pressure of living in a society obsessed with youth? Is it because the face looking back at you in the mirror doesn't represent the person within? Or is it because someone gave you a gift voucher for Christmas, along with the promise that gravity can be defied? "Acceptance of cosmetic surgery is growing within the British psyche," says Mintel's Jenny Catlin. "Exposure to, and desensitising of, cosmetic surgery through television coverage and the popularity of procedures among celebrities has inevitably played a key role."

The Mintel study found that most Britons are still cautious of procedures that involve a scalpel, with 85% of the market being made up of non-surgical procedures such as chemical peels and Botox injections. In financial terms, face and neck surgery accounts for the greatest percentage of sales, at £108 million, with breast surgery coming a close second, at £100 million. "Facial surgery continues to attract the greatest spend, as the face is not only the focal point of appearance, it is also typically the primary victim of the ageing process," says Catlin.

by LOUISA PEARSON