A GROWING number of teenage girls are starting university with bigger breasts, smaller bottoms and straighter noses.
Doctors say Australian teenagers, mostly girls, want cosmetic surgery to boost their self-esteem, a phenomenon health professionals say is driven by the pressure to look perfect.
Liposuction or breast surgery, between high school and university, are the trend.
Child psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg counsels teenagers whose parents will not let them surgically alter their bodies.
ldquo;What I'm seeing is this absolute cult of celebrity, rdquo; he said.
ldquo;I've got girls who want to look like Britney (Spears) - or Christina Aguilera or The Veronicas and I find this so incredibly sad.
rdquo;
At least two Melbourne plastic surgeons referred teenagers to Dr Carr-Gregg for counselling.
Dr Carr-Gregg was surprise by the interest for surgery.
ldquo;I've never received so many letters asking me about body and surgery, rdquo; he said.
Darryl Hodgkinson, a cosmetic surgeon for 26 years, said between 3 and 5 per cent of his patients were teenagers.
Victorian Health Services Commissioner Beth Wilson said such a body shape was ldquo;in the normal range for humanity, but not within the normal range of the propaganda rdquo;.
ldquo;Young girls are bombarded by huge amounts of propaganda from the beauty industry.
It's everywhere: billboards, television, magazines, rdquo; she said.
ldquo;Airbrushed images which are not accurate representations of what people look like ..
. and it's very difficult for young girls in particular to withstand that kind of bombardment.
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