The cosmetic surgery industry in the UK is booming despite the global recession. Whilst many industries have been hit hard over the past few years, the plastic surgery industry has actually grown.

Figures from the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) show that there were 43,069 procedures performed lastyear – that’s up nearly 6pc on 2010. Perhaps slightly surprisingly, the biggest cosmetic surgery winner was male abdominoplasty which saw a 15pc increase. Female tummy tucks increased by just 7 pc – although the actual number of women going under the knife still dwarfs the number of men (for tummy tucks, 3,251 vs 124).

In fact, women still account for 90 pc of cosmetic procedures undertaken with 2011 seeing 38,771 operations carried out compared to 34,413 in 2010, whilst 4,298 male cosmetic surgery operations were performed compared to the previous years’s 4,017.