Significant interest in controversial new surgery in the UK

THE fashionable Victoria Beckham has been singled out again - this time, for causing a nipple surgery trend in United Kingdom.

A medical centre in the country reported a 30 per cent rise in the number of nipple surgery requests over the last 12 months, reported the Daily Mail.

Even a website specialising in selling nipple prosthesis said it saw a 'significant increase' in orders for their prosthetic nipples in the past year.

Dr Riccardo Frati, a cosmetic surgeon for the Harley Medical Group, which noted the boom, said: 'Until now celebrities didn't expose their nipples, so they were no 'nipple role models'.

'In the past, I've had patients coming to my surgery clutching pictures of celebrities like Katie Price and saying 'I'd like breasts like hers', but now there's a chance that Mrs Beckham's designer nipples could be the next big thing for 2009.'

He is referring to recent reports and pictures of Victoria which show her in a transparent black T-shirt, leaving nothing to the imagination.

That ignited fresh speculation over whether her nipples are real or fake.

And nipple surgery is also now becoming more known and accessible.

Said Dr Frati: 'Until recently, women didn't know they could alter the shape, colour and size of their nipples.

'But you can. Women's attitudes to breasts have changed. They no longer want large breasts, they want normal breasts - generally around a C cup - and are more bothered by the shape and appearance.'

He said among the most common reasons for wanting such a perky appearance is that women want to wear a T-shirt without a bra, or look nice in a bikini without padding.

The surgery can cost up to £pounds2,000 ($5,000).

You can opt for procedures like nipple lifts to push the nipple up and out, or an asymmetrical nipple procedure which evens them out.

Or you can choose to tattoo the areola, which refers to the pigmented area around the nipple, if you are not happy with your nipple colour.

The most common of these procedures is the correction of inverted nipples, which are flat or concave and which do not protrude or become erect on it's own.

To date, the majority of nipple surgeries are performed on post-mastectomy patients - patients who have undergone surgeries to remove one or both breasts usually due to breast cancer.

But Dr Frati says he is seeing more and more women who simply want the operation for aesthetic reasons. However, he cautioned there are medical cons even as they yearn for the procedure's pros.

Correcting an inverted nipple can affect a woman's ability to breast-feed.

Infection is always a risk, and nipples may also lose the physical sensitivity as nerve endings are removed.

Also, the success rate for correcting inverted nipples is still relatively low.

This article was first published in The New Paper