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By
David Wilkes
IN the quest to achieve the perfect statuesque
look, a worrying craze is hot-foot-ing it over the Atlantic.
Women
are turning to cosmetic surgery on their tootsies in the U.S. just so that
they can cram their feet into the latest designer heels.
The trend, inspired by Sarah Jessica Parker tottering across television screens as Manolo Blahnik-loving
Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City, has led to more and more ladies in
Los Angeles having foot surgery - often purely for appearance's sake.
The
Beverly Hills Aesthetic Foot Surgery in Studio City, California, is among
those providing an array of operations, including its trademarked
'Cinderella procedure' - a preventive bunion correction that makes feet
narrower.
Maybe that would appeal to the likes of Victoria Beckham and Kate Beckinsale, who have both battled bunions. The clinic -which boasts
movie stars, models and athletes as clients - also offers the 'Perfect 10!
Aesthetic toe shortening' operation.
This apparently trims toes
which hang over the end of sandals or have to be crushed into tight shoes.
There's
also 'Foot-tuck fat pad augmentation' in which fat from the patient's
abdomen is injected into the balls of her feet to provide extra cushioning
for long days on high heels.
The clinic's founder, podiatrist Ali Sadrieh, told the Wall Street Journal: 'It's unrealistic to
tell women not to wear high heels. I came up with procedures that allow the women to function, pain-free, in the real world.'
The
clinic also offers toe lengthening and toe straightening, as well as a
procedure called hyper-hidrosis in which Botox, which can curb excess
sweating, is injected into the feet to prevent fungal growth.
The
jab temporarily paralyses muscles with a mild dose of toxin. In the
face this eliminates wrinkles.
But if injected into hands, feet or armpits,
it freezes glands to stop them reacting to heat.
Podiatrists across
the U.S. say business is booming, despite warnings from orthopedic
surgeons that procedures should only be done to alleviate pain and
deformities.
More British women are also requesting toe and ankle
correction procedures, as well as Botox injections to the balls of the
feet, according to the British
Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons.
Mike
Paynton, chairman of the British
Chiropody and Podiatry Association, warned against cosmetic
surgery on feet.
'The foot is a complicated structure and you
cannot alter one part of it without throwing another out,' he said.
British
women are said to spend £29million a year fixing medical problems such as
bunions, corns and trapped nerves caused by high heels.
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