Foot fetish

Botox injections, liposuction and silicon breast implants seem so yesterday. Today's Manhattan female is obsessing about an entirely different part of her body - her feet. Small breasts, large bottoms, sagging arms and lumpy legs aren't enough to worry about any more. Now it's all about pedicures, correcting arches, and toe tucks.

New York is one of the most feet-centric cities in America. This is a city where people take the subway, buses and trains - and walk.

It is also a city where shoe worship has been encouraged by TV shows such as Sex and the City, whose characters' lives sometimes seem dominated by the temptation to buy a pair of Jimmy Choos or Blahniks. Because of this, it seems that, for once, celebrity-keen New York may be leading celebrity-obsessed Los Angeles in one area of cosmetic surgery, at least.

The awareness of the aesthetics of one's toes, nails and heels has never been stronger. A columnist for The New York Observer confessed that she hadn't realised she had ugly heels until the recent craze, and felt obliged to get the first foot treatment of her life.

But that's only the beginning. Podiatrists are inundated with patients worried about everything from corns to toes that are too fat or too bony. Now these specialists are beginning to focus the foot-challenged on cosmetic surgery as the solution to many of their problems.

Many of the methods that have been used to beautify other body parts are being adapted. For example, women complaining about fat toes can get toe fat removed in a 'toe-tucking'. Those plagued by their skeletal-looking feet can get implant-style injections. All this is known in the business as 'foot face-lifting'.