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It might be the success of the so-called "lad-mag" publications like FHM, Sky and Loaded, which feature soft-core covers of babes thrusting their well-defined cleavage from U.K. newsstands. If not the lad mags, then something has certainly affected British citizens, because they're obsessed with breasts.
The evidence? Plastic surgery procedures in Britain have increased 50 percent in the past five years. According to a report just published in She magazine, 65,000 cosmetic surgery procedures are carried out annually. Last year, Brits celebrated their increased obsession with beauty, throwing down #158.6 million (U.S.$247.3 million) to go under the knife and improve on nature's handiwork.
Topping the list of favorite modifications to the human body was breast enlargement. Men are requesting a diet of bigger boobs these days, and apparently women are willing to slice-and-dice their chests to please the guys.
But it's not only for the men, She reports. Vanity works both ways. Women are urging their husbands and boyfriends to halt the beer-gut growth by having liposuction.
Following boob jobs in the top five were liposuction, nose jobs, eye-bag removal and facelifts. Cosmetic surgeons have also heard some more peculiar requests. One woman asked a doctor to make her nipples stick out permanently, and another wanted to have her gums reduced so that they wouldn't show when she smiled.
But perma-nips and ugly gums are the exceptions here. Pumping up the hooters is all-important throughout most of Northern Europe, it seems. Besides the U.K., breast enlargement ranks as the most-popular cosmetic surgery in France, Germany and Sweden. Big breasts also seem to be a cultural thing. According to the study, the beach-going, thong-wearing Brazilians prefer their implants in the buttocks.
