MANY PEOPLE DISMISS cosmetic surgery as foolish vanity - until they develop their own complex. When I found myself sitting in a Central-based plastic surgeon's office, I knew I'd crossed a critical line in the quest for beauty.
I'm not alone. Breast surgery is becoming more popular globally - there was a nine per cent increase in breast surgery in the US last year and the British rates are rising steadily, too. According to Xinhua News Agency, more than one million mainlanders had cosmetic surgery in 2004 - three times the number for the previous year.
The latest figures for Hong Kong were released by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (Isaps) last year. It said the city ranked 25th globally for the number of cosmetic procedures in 2003: 3,634 procedures by Isaps members, compared with 85,635 in the US.
And, after much deliberation, I made the decision to join them.
Pre-op consultation: I was dreading this. My breasts seem 40 years older than the rest of my 28-year-old body. I'd had nice-but-small B cups, until two babies and breastfeeding took their toll. They're now even smaller, less-than-firm A cups. And no matter how hard I tried to convince myself, the perception of the ideal breast has always been firm and upward tilting - no matter what size - rather than flabby, elongated or tubular.
After the unavoidable examination, we get to the business of deciding what to do about them. I'm diagnosed with hypomastia with marked ptosis - medical jargon for breasts that are small and too saggy. A more accurate diagnosis would be hyper-sensitivity - since there's nothing wrong with having small or saggy breasts. I just happen to hate them.