Cosmetic surgery now part of modern beauty treatment, writer claims

Cosmetic surgery has become an integral part of modern standards of beauty, a writer has claimed.

Writing in American Sexuality Magazine, Bonnie Zylbergold claims that people – especially in the West – have always altered their physical appearances "to fit the style of the day".

As a result, she says, cosmetic surgery has merely added to the range of available options and modifications and has not in itself prompted any desire to change appearances.

Dr. Victoria Pitts-Taylor, associate professor of sociology at City University of New York, agrees, saying that "we are now undergoing a transformation in our conception of the natural to accommodate high-tech surgery".

Another cosmetic surgeon questioned by Ms Zylbergold pointed out that, as far back as the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, women were using corsets and bras to push up their breasts and make them appear more attractive.

Cosmetic surgeon Patrick Mallucci recently told a London conference he had devised a formula for the perfect breast.

A study of topless models has led him to believe the ideal breast has "a 45 to 55 per cent proportion".