Plastic surgery a hit among most teens

Forty per cent of Britain's teenage girls have considered the prospect of plastic surgery, while fewer than a tenth say they are happy with their bodies, a poll said on Wednesday.

Forty per cent of Britain's teenage girls have considered the prospect of plastic surgery, while fewer than a tenth say they are happy with their bodies, a poll by a youth magazine said on Wednesday.

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Of the 2,000 girls questioned by Bliss magazine, just eight per cent were content with their bodies, while a quarter admitted to having suffered from an eating disorder.

The poll illustrated a "21st century tragedy", said the magazine's editor, Chantelle Horton.

"The endless parade of thin yet curvy, surgically-enhanced celebrities has made young girls obsessed with their own normal lumpy, bumpy bodies," she said.

"They also feel tremendous pressure from boys who increasingly expect their girlfriends to resemble the perfect celebrity body model they've been fed by a looks-obsessed society."

Of the girls quizzed, who were aged 14 on average, more than two thirds said they felt pressure over their bodies from both celebrities and boys, while more than half said their own mothers "moaned" about their own weight.

About a third described themselves as "overweight", while two thirds thought they needed to lose weight and seven out of 10 said they would be "100 per cent happier" if they could lose half a stone (3.2 kilogrammes).

Only three percent of those asked considered themselves "beautiful", 29 per cent said they were "attractive", while 15 per cent found themselves "very unattractive" and seven per cent "yuk".

Half the girls surveyed thought their slim peers were "generally more popular with everyone".