It’s a controversial gift, but more and more people are doing it
WORDS: ALLEY EINSTEIN. PHOTOS: GETTY, THE SUN/NEWS LICENSING. *BAAPS.ORG.UK
It’s that time of year – party season is in full swing and we all want to look our best. For some women, that means going a step further and having a few tweakments to ensure just that.
The number of Brits having cosmetic procedures has doubled in a year. More than 31,000 procedures were carried out in 2022 — twice that of 2021.
Women accounted for 93% of all procedures and while breast augmentations remain popular, tummy tucks have risen by 130% and brow lifts are up 140%. It’s even been reported that gifting family and friends vouchers for various cosmetic procedures has never been so popular at Christmas.
In the past it has been reported that music mogul Simon Cowell gave his family and friends vouchers for cosmetic procedures, and reality TV star Kris Jenner was criticised by fans for admitting to giving vouchers to her family for botulinum toxin injections.
With more women willing to go under the knife or make tweakments to their appearance in the run-up to party season, we ask, just how far are you willing to go to look your best?
Here, one mum tells us how gifting herself £15,000 worth of surgery was worth every penny…
‘I FELT LIKE I WAS STARTING A NEW CHAPTER’
Nina Ragnars, 39, is a mum of four and lives in Manchester.
I’m a mum to a 20-year-old, 18, 12 and eight-year-old. Each of my children was born via caesarean so I was left with weakened stomach muscles and scarring.
Before I had them, I was a size 12. However, after each baby the weight became harder to shift and my focus was totally on my children. I was soon size 22 and hitting the scales at 20st.
It made me feel dreadful. I hid underneath oversized clothes and hated my body.
In May 2018 I was having trouble walking up stairs and even playing with my kids in the park. That’s when I decided to lose weight. Over three years I lost nearly 8st by eating healthier, but my weight loss left me with swathes of loose skin and my boobs sagged down to my belly button. In lockdown in 2020 I planned a surgical mummy makeover in time for Christmas 2021. Lockdown and working from home offered more surgery downtime because I wouldn’t need to see people.
In June 2021 I flew to Turkey. In one operation, I had my internal stomach muscles, damaged by four caesareans, rep
