If diamonds are a girl's best friend, high-heeled shoes probably come in a close second.

Ranging from stilettos to chunky heels and available in all colours and heights, they make a woman feel instantly sexier.

A fan, Ms Christina Mohan, who recently graduated with a degree in marketing and tourism, says: 'Heels just makes an outfit look better and you stand out more because you look taller.'

But they are a friend who could stab you in the, well, feet. Wearing them for long periods could cause painful bunions, arthritis in the toes, tendinitis (inflammation of the tendon tissue) and knee and back problems.

According to experts, bunions, which are sore and swollen bumps at the sides of the foot near the big toe, is nine times more prevalent in women than men because of narrow high heel shoes.

Ms Mohan, 22, says the balls of her feet ache badly the day after a whole night of clubbing in her 3-inch heels.

But she declares: 'I will never give up my heels.'

This willingness to sacrifice the health of their feet for vanity frustrates podiatrists, who have noticed an increase in recent years in the number of people seeking treatment for high-heel-related problems. The spike, they say, is due to an increased awareness of the need for healthy feet.

Podiatrist Adam Jorgensen from The Foot Practice clinic says he has seen a 30 per cent increase in the past two years and that 60 per cent of his female patients consult him for problems related to heels. Yet many are not willing to give up wearing them altogether.

He says the women, who are usually working professionals in their 20s to 40s, claim they cannot live without them.

So instead of nagging at them to give up heels, he advises them to add extra cushioning for better support and comfort.

'High heels are not necessarily bad. Two- to 3-inch heels are all right but only in moderation,' he says.

Raffles Hospital's sessional podiatrist Tye Lee Tze advises women who insist on wearing high heels to limit the time they spend in them.

'Slip them off when you are in the car and when you are seated at your desk in the office,' he says.

Even though Madam Agnes Sim has arthritis in the knees and feels the strain whenever she slips on heels, the 52-year-old teacher who has been wearing them for 31 years says she is simply 'too vain to give up the habit'.

A fan of 3-inch heels, she forgets the pain in her knees and the ache in her back during the day when she is preoccupied with work.

But the moment she returns home, her legs feel like 'heavy tree stumps'.

Doing leg exercises, she adds, helps relieve the heaviness the next morning so she 'is ready to wear heels again'.

Such relief is merely temporary.

Podiatrist Samuel Randall, from the department of rehabilitation medicine at National University Hospital, issues a blunt warning to incorrigible heels fans: 'Be realistic. If you spend a lot of time in heels, expect to have problems in later life.'

This article was first published in The Sunday Times.