Cosmetic surgery booming in UK

Britons might be feeling the pinch of the global credit crunch, but they are still ready to pay thousands of pounds for cosmetic surgery, a report said yesterday.

Britain's largest cosmetic surgery provider, the Harley Medical Group, said yesterday that demand for cosmetic surgery procedures had grown by 35 percent over the past 10 months.

Abdomnoplasty or "tummy tuck" operations, a procedure costing nearly 5,000 pounds ($10,000), were up 59 percent, while breast augmentation surgery swelled 40 percent, the surgery provider said.