Health Zone: Beauty: Is plastic really fantastic?

MORE women than ever are opting for cosmetic surgery to boost their looks. Tens of thousands of British woman have gone under the knife in the last decade ... but will their surgery stand the test of time? So we asked three women who had a variety ofoperations five years ago whether plastic really is fantastic. NATALIE Hall, 30, is a property agent from Sanderstead in Surrey.

She had soya breast implants five years ago but they burst and she had them replaced with silicone last year. FOR four years I was very happy with my breast implants. Then, towards the end of 1999, my bust started swelling up.

I thought it was strange that I was suddenly growing at the age of 29, but then the swelling subsided and my breasts just collapsed. Instead of feeling like two rubber balls as they had done, they were soft and squishy. I read a newspaper article about soya implants exploding and that was what had happened to me. I phoned my surgeon and he booked me in the next day to have an operation to replace the soya with silicone. I thought about not having it done, but there's no going back. My skin had stretched to accommodate the initial implants and my breasts would have looked like a couple of empty sacks. The operation was successful, but I had sore armpits for about a month where the incisions were made. I really regret choosing soya and feel quite cheated. Everybody thought soya was a natural option, but now nobody can predict what will happened to theoil that burst inside me. I'm getting around pounds 5,000 compensation but I'd rather it hadn' t happened at all. I was a 30A before the first operation. I longed to wear triangular bikini tops on holiday and worried that I wasn' t womanly enough. Looking back I realise that there was actually nothing wrong with me.

I was slim but curvy, and had long healthy hair. If I looked that good now I probably wouldn't have it done, but I was much more finicky in my 20s. I made the decision when I was 25 and had just split up from my long- term boyfriend. I wanted a new start and new image. The operation cost pounds 3,200 and took me up to a 30DD to balance my curvy hips and bottom. I felt great and went on four girly holidays that year and had a brilliant time. I wasn't interested in men. The boobs were to improve my confidence, and it worked. I wore triangular bikinis and loved being able to fill out summer dresses and T-shirts. Now I'm 30 I don't beat myself up about my looks any more. I've considered whether I should have waited until I was older and wiser before committing myself to surgery - but I might have spent the last five years being unhappy with my body. As long asthe soya oil doesn't come back to haunt me I've no regrets. NOSE JOB IS BEST THING I EVER DID PENNIE Hooper, 36, is a party organiser from North London. She is divorced with two children aged 12 and 15. Pennie had a nose job six years ago and is still delighted with the results today.

I FELL off a horse when I was 12 and bashed my nose. Nobody believed it was broken and I wasn't taken to hospital. My nose healed with a bit of a bump that I always hated. I put up with it until my early twenties, but as I got older I became more concerned about my looks. I felt that if my nose was different the world would be a nicer place. I talked it through with my then husband and he agreed that if I felt so strongly about it I should go ahead and have it done. I did a lot of research. Some of the clinics which advertise on the back pages of magazines tried to talk me into having other surgery as well. But when I came across Harley Street's Dr Jan Stanek, I knew I'd found the right one. He listened to what Iwanted instead of trying to sell me things I didn't want. I explained that I didn't want a ski-slope Barbie nose, I just wanted the bump straightened out and my nose made a little cuter looking. I paid pounds 2,800. When I came round from the anaesthetic I wasn' t in pain at all and I just felt like I had alittle bit of a stuffy cold. It took six weeks for the swelling to go down, and then I fell in love with my new nose. It was a real "wow" moment when I looked in the mirror. It sounds silly but from that moment I had more confidence about the way I looked and I felt so much happier with myself. I think it would have bugged me forever if I hadn't had it done. When I became single again I discovered that my nose job really helped improve my confidence with men. Even now it still makes me feel younger and more attractive. That's important to me as my job involves working with trendy, young people. My newboyfriend doesn't know about it, but I don't mind him finding out. My old bumpy nose wasn't the one I was born with. I just had a minor repair to my nose, and a major repair to my self-esteem. BREAST, FACE AND TUMMY OPS ALL NEEDED CORRECTING SUE O'Grady, 53, is a hairdresser from Doncaster, South Yorkshire.

She is divorced with two sons aged 18 and 20. Sue had a facelift and breast implants when she was 47 and a tummy tuck when she was 48. She has since had all three operations corrected. I HAVE always believed that plastic surgery is just like changing your hairstyle or make-up. If you want it and can afford it, why not go for it? I planned to have a facelift when I was 50 but I went to a talk given by a local surgeon when I was 47 and was hooked. I couldn't wait, and opted for a breast augmentation at the same time. I figured that if my face was going to knock years off me, I wanted a good, firm bust to match.

I was a 34B but everything sagged after I had the boys so I asked for 34DD implants. Both operations were straightforward. I'd chosen a local surgeon because he had all the right qualifications but when I saw the results, I had mixed feelings. I was thrilled with the facelift - I had scars round my ears and my neck was still baggy, butmy skin was much smoother and my sagging jowls and the hooded skin above my eyes had gone. My bust wasn't so brilliant. I felt too big and matronly and I wished I'd gone for a smaller size, but I'm not one to brood. Instead, I decided to complete my new look with a tummy tuck to get rid of my little wobbly belly. My stomach was flatter after the operation but I had two dog-ear tucks on each hip and a huge scar across my tummy that I wasn't prepared for. Nevertheless, for a whole 12 months I felt great. Then things started to go wrong. My face began to droop. Lines appeared down the sides of my mouth and I looked just as wrinkled as before. I saw a TV documentary about a woman who sued her surgeon because she had visible scarring round her ears from afacelift. Mine were even worse than hers and I began to question all of my surgery. I consulted a London-based plastic surgeon called Dr Winston Shaer and talking to him was a real eye-opener. It seemed that, although my original doctor was well qualified, plasticsurgery wasn't his specialist area. Instead of my "skin drape" facelift, I should have had a "composite" - stitching sagging muscle pads in place under the skin's surface. My breasts could have had a simple uplift as I had enough muscle, just no tone, and my tummy tuck should have involvedmuscle tightening in the middle instead of a straight cut and tuck. 

My big mistake had been not asking to see some previous patients. I got carried away with the pursuit of the body beautiful. I blame myself completely. I chose the surgeon and nothing was done against my will. I saved hard for a couple of years and had a composite facelift which included having my ear lobes restored as they had been dragged back in the previous op. Two years ago, I had a breast reduction and went down to a much more natural 36B.

I had my tummy redone to get rid of the unsightly tucks on my hips. I've spent about pounds 30,000 on surgery and it should have been half that. My advice to other women is to ask your surgeon to put you in touch with previous patients and see the results for yourself. Think about the consequences of your surgery in years to come. Big breasts may be appealing when you are young but do you want to look like a big matron when you hit 50? I feel great about myself now - but it could have been a whole lot easier if only I'd done my homework. RACHEL MURPHY, Health Zone: Beauty: Is plastic really fantastic?. ,