However skeptical surgeons are about the desirability of breast augmentation or however furious feminists are, the surgery remains hugely popular in the West.
Only a couple of months ago there was a chorus of denunciation of a website which offered to help women raise cash for breast implants using personal photos.It was unsafe and degrading, UK cosmetic surgeons had said. Now a county FM radio station in North West England has come in for criticism for offering a breast enhancement operation as a prize in a phone-in contest.
The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons has condemned the competition saying it was "dangerous and highly unethical".
A station spokeswoman said finalists had been psychologically tested to ensure suitability for surgery.
Entrants had to send a photo of themselves into the station with an explanation of why they wanted the operation and listeners then voted on who should get the surgery.
Winner, 27-year-old Nadine Pude from Rockferry, Wirral, is planning to get her bust boosted from an A-cup to a double D at the end of this month.
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"I'm happy with my height, my waist, and my weight. But I always thought I was lacking a 'bit up top'.
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However, Adam Searle, former president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, said: "The giving of a surgical procedure as a prize is an unbelievable, dangerous and highly unethical practice.
"The decision to perform any surgical procedure must be based on common sense, case selection, good surgical decision making and patient safety.
"The offer of a cosmetic surgery procedure as a prize is an awful manifestation of the trivialisation of medical care in general, and aesthetic surgery in particular.
"Any patients making irreversible decisions in circumstances of hype, excitement and emotion are putting themselves at very great risk.
"Any normal patient-doctor relationship is completely abandoned in any such framework of medical care. This is a practice I unreservedly and utterly condemn."
This is not the first time the station has offered surgical procedures as prizes - a few years ago they ran a competition where a woman won a nose job.
Jo Heuston, who is sponsorship and promotions manager of Juice FM, the county radio station said: "We take very seriously the interests of our listeners and would never seek to act irresponsibly towards them.
"A lot of women seeking surgical enhancement procedures have low self esteem and are desperate to have their perceived problems rectified.
"As a result they either have to save up for years or go into debt to enable themselves to get it carried out.
"All we were doing was offering the chance of the procedure without having to pay for it and as a precaution we sent the five finalists to the clinic for a psychological evaluation to make sure they were all suitable.
"If they hadn't, they would have been withdrawn from the competition."
Source-Medindia
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