Nip and UN-tuck: Why we regret our teenage cosmetic surgery

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And well she might.

For Kate was just 19 when she had implants. At a time when her body was still developing and most girls her age were excited about university or a first holiday abroad with friends, she was eagerly anticipating the surgeon's knife.

Now 28, she acknowledges that teenagers are simply too young to throw themselves into the world of nip/tuck.

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£20,000 mistake: 'Older, wiser and married' Louise now realises that teenagers are too young to undergo the cosmetic procedure she had at 19

"The trouble is that when you're a teenager all that matters is what you look like," says Kate, a sales manager from Ascot, Berkshire.

"I'm 5ft 7in and a dress size eight to ten, but I hated my small 34B breasts.

"In my teens, I was influenced by celebrity magazines which glamorised surgery, and by men's glossies like FHM, which were full of pictures of near-naked women with full breasts.

"Those sorts of images make girls feel as if they don't match up to the models; that's how I felt.

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Simone Richardson had two breast augmentations before she'd even left her teens

"It makes you feel that your boyfriend must think that's what normal girls' bodies should look like.

"There's real pressure on young women to look good and magazines and TV programmes make it sound like a miracle cure.

"They don't talk about the things that can go wrong or the fact that implants need maintenance - such as an uplift - and replacement implants if your breasts sag after having kids."

But what was fairly unusual ten years ago has become a worrying trend today, with one major clinic reporting a 150 per cent increase in 18 and 19-year-olds having breast augmentations in 2007 - small wonder when the same clinic offers loans enabling young girls to fund their new breasts.

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Celebrity teenage surgery: Eastenders actress Lacey Turner (right) has admitted getting a boob joob for her 19th birthday, actress Tori Spelling confessed to having a nose job when she was a teen and breast implants in her 20's

And with such easy credit on offer and pressure from society to look good - not to mention the glossing over of the dangers associated with cosmetic surgery in magazines - it's hardly surprising the figures have shot up.

But what happens when teenage girls grow up and have to live with the consequences of their decisions?

Kate knows only too well. Able easily to afford the £4,000 operation - she was earning £20,000 a year as a saleswoman - she admits giving little thought to the long-term repercussions of her impulsive decision.

"I wanted new boobs for the summer," she says. "I didn't consider whether my body had stopped growing or how I'd feel about a decision made in my teens in later life.

"A couple of girls in their 20s I knew had already had implants.

"They said I should have bigger implants than I'd planned to as 'not going big enough is the one thing everyone regrets'.

"I was so impressionable, I didn't listen to the surgeon when he said he strongly felt a C-cup would be more suited to my slender frame than the DDs I wanted.

"All teenagers are convinced they're mature but now I realise you're not grown up at all."

Kate wasn't even mature enough to have discussed it with her parents.

The first her PA mother and IT analyst father knew about the operation at the Transform Clinic in Golders Green, North London, in 1999, was when she returned home after surgery.

"I'd told them I was staying at a friend's for a couple of nights.

"They'd have gone mad with worry if they'd known the truth," says Kate.

"Mum yelled: 'How could you have been so stupid? You're far too young - your body's still developing. Why didn't you wait until you were in your 20s?'

"But I was so thrilled with my breasts that I didn't care."

Kate's mother turned out to be right. Her new breasts were so huge that they drew unwelcome attention from leering men.

"They'd make sleazy comments that chipped away at my confidence and so I stopped wearing the figure-hugging outfits I'd once longed to wear.

"I began to cover up, especially at the gym or at work, where I really didn't want that sort of male attention.

"Ironically, the implants I thought would give me so much confidence eventually led to a lowering of my self-esteem."

Six months ago, she paid a further £4,000 for surgery to replace the original implants with smaller C-cups.

"If I'd waited until I was in my 20s before having implants, I'd have gone for a smaller, natural look in the first place and not had to have this second operation.

"I know now that as you get to your late 20s you don't compare yourself to other girls so much because you realise it's unrealistic.

"But in your teens you feel as though you should pursue those perfect figures."

Nigel Mercer is president-elect of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons and a practising plastic surgeon himself.

He says: "At 16, a girl is legally entitled to have a breast augmentation or any other surgery without consent from her parents.

"Although most girls have reached physical maturity by the age of 17 or 18, what worries me most is their emotional maturity.

"What we have is a lot of teenage girls thinking only of the cosmetic effect of breast implants, not risks such as hardening of the implants, which affects as many as eight per cent of patients.

"Nor the fact that liquid silicone implants must be replaced every ten years, a maintenance programme of six further operations in a teen's lifetime.

"And if a teenager asks for a cup size above a C, then the surgeon really needs to question if they are doing it for the right reasons."

Louise Glover couldn't agree more. Her experience with teenage cosmetic surgery has left her convinced girls should be banned from having such operations until they are 21.

Photographer Louise was just 19 when she spent £5,000 having her breasts enlarged to 34D at a Liverpool clinic before later having them increased to an E-cup.

Now 24, she's spent £15,000 having the surgery "undone" to help her return to the C-cup nature intended.

Louise, from Romford, Essex, said: "Now I'm older, wiser and married, I realise that in your teens you are too young to make such a major decision over cosmetic surgery.

"There's a lot of pressure to look good as a teenager but as you get older you don't feel that pressure.

"Celebrity magazines make surgery sound so easy. You turn up, hand over your money and leave with a great pair of breasts.

"They don't warn you about the pain, about going too big or the long-term risks.

"Nor do they make you aware that if you do go too big, you might attract disrespect from men.

"It's sad because I've seen lots of lovely young girls who are bright and pretty as they are.

"They should be pursuing a professional career, yet all they talk about is having implants and being a glamour model because that's what they read about in magazines.

"They should not even consider a breast augmentation until they are 21. There's a big difference in the maturity of a teenager and a 21-year-old.

"I learnt that the hard way.

"It had never occurred to me then that I wouldn't be able to find clothes to fit, nor that I'd attract sleazy comments from men.

"Boyfriends saw me as nothing more than a trophy with big breasts. And girls would make bitchy remarks to me in bars and clubs."

In another astonishing case, Simone Richardson had two breast augmentations before she'd even left her teens.

Now a 27-year-old administrator from Manchester, she spent more than £7,000 going from a 32B to D-cup aged 18, then even larger a year later.

She says: "I wanted big, pert breasts, and I was sure that would make me happy - until then, I'd always worn padded bras and felt less sexy than my friends."

When she turned 18, she booked into a clinic for the first operation.

Now, with the benefit of age and experience, she can see it was a mistake.

"I'd like to get them reduced but there's no way I can afford to have more surgery to make them smaller."

A salutary thought indeed for the thousands of teenage girls who, thanks to a society obsessed with image, are convinced that bigger always means better.

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