Now here’s one for the record books.

A 12-year girl from Pfluggerville, Texas has possibly become the youngest person in the United States to undergo liposuction, says a Statesman.com report.

Brooke Bates, a middle school student who once weighed 225 pounds, had 45 pounds of fat and skin removed from her by controversial plastic surgeon Dr. Robert Ersek, who once performed liposuction on himself in front of local news cameras in 2004.

The kid and her parents are extremely happy with the procedure. Other plastic surgeons, however, are not.

There was a time when plastic surgery was thought of as just another fad exclusively for the ladies. But with the need to look young and attractive brought about by a cutthroat work environment, more and more men, especially those who can afford it, are jumping onto the plastic surgery bandwagon, and are in effect fuelling a boom in cosmetic surgery.

Male executives in their thirties are among those having facial injections of Botox relaxants and collagen to smooth out the tell-tale signs of ageing.

In a cut-throat working environment, where any sign of weakness is seized on by rivals, bankers and office high-fliers are spending thousands of pounds a visit. [Daily Mail]

Undergoing plastic surgery is potentially a life-altering decision, and must therefore be carefully weighed before making a decision. However, too many people have undergone major makeovers without really giving it much thought. As a result, not a few suffer bouts of depression, while some are even driven to suicide, after cosmetic surgery procedures that didn’t quite get them the results they wanted.

To give potential plastic surgery patients a concise checklist of things to consider before going under a cosmetic surgeon’s knife, the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons has come up with an acronym designed to promote a sensible approach to plastic surgery: S.U.R.E.

Now here’s something new.

A plastic surgeon in San Antonio is offering adjustable breast implants, the kind that allow patients to change the size of their saline implants even three to six months after their initial operations, without removing them and putting in new ones.

Plastic surgeon Dr. Thomas Jeneby said nine out of 10 women who get breast augmentation say later they wished they'd gone bigger.

"I think people underestimate the sizes of bras, and what their friends tell them, and what they see on TV, and I think it's my job to offer them a solution," he said.

That solution is an implant that's actually adjustable. The enhancements are put into the patient through a one-and-a half-inch incision. During the procedure, the surgeon attaches a tiny port, a rubbery piece with a tube on the end that can be used to add saline later. The port sits on the rib under the breast.

Many people think that rhinoplasty is only for those who want to get their noses shaped the way they want to, to make themselves look more beautiful. But a new study has discovered that a form of nasal plastic surgery can also help people suffering from severe nasal obstructions.

According to a Forbes.com report, the study concludes that “functional rhinoplasty” may boost airway function in people with severe nasal obstructions like septal deviation and turbinate hypertrophy.

The new study, appearing in the September/October issue of the Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, evaluated 41 people with severe nasal obstructions who underwent functional rhinoplasty at the University of Washington School of Medicine's Cosmetic Surgery Center.