Fashion for gym wear blamed for rise in women having liposuction

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THE rise in wearing gym gear as everyday clothing is behind a 12 per cent rise in women undergoing liposuction treatment, experts have said.

In recent years, many brands have embraced the trend of “athleisure”, with leggings and bra tops now as acceptable at the bar as at the barre.

Yet rather than hitting the gym to gain the physique needed to pull off such tight and skimpy outfits, women are instead visiting the liposuction clinic, according to the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons.

The number of liposuction operations, in which fat is sucked from the thighs and buttocks, rose by 12 per cent to 2,286 for women, making it the fastest growing area of plastic surgery.

“Athleisure” is now a £3billion market in the UK, fuelled by the rise of the Instagam-led trends of healthy living and clean eating. Clothing brands not known for sportswear, including H&M, Boohoo, Primark, New Look, Ted Baker, Topshop and Whistles, have produced their own ranges. The origi- nal phrase was first used in 1976 in an advert for trainers but it officially entered the dictionary in April 2016, defined as “casual clothing to be worn for exercising and for general use”.

Other areas of cosmetic surgery on the rise included nose jobs, up three per cent to 2,831, and face and neck lifts, which experienced an increase of seven per cent to 2,134 procedures.

Rajiv Grover, a former association president who compiles the audit on an annual basis, said: “The rise [of liposuction]

The increase in women undergoing liposuction, according to the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons

comes at a time where the popularity of TV shows such as Love Island has driven the desire for a toned torso, as did the fashion for women’s athleisure clothing. The danger of cosmetic surgery becoming too closely linked to reality TV or celebrity endorsement is that it can make surgery seem like a commodity, which should never be the case. An operation is not something that can simply be returned to the shop if you have second thoughts.

“The trend is also driven by the openness of celebrities like Jane Fonda, who recently admitted to having surgery over several decades to enhance her looks and prolong her career.”

According to the figures, more than 28,000 procedures took place in 2018, a small increase of 0.1 per cent on 2017 and nine in 10 treatments were carried out on women.

As in 2017, the three most popular procedures for women were breast augmentation, breast reduction and blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery).

Overall, male cosmetic surgery dropped by 4.7 per cent in 2018 as nonsurgical treatments gained popularity.

However, the association said there was concern that shops carrying out procedures were not up to the same standard as qualified plastic surgeons.