The number of British teenagers having breast enlargement operations has increased by more than 150% in the past year.

Doctors believe girls undergoing the procedure are aping celebrities who have surgically enhanced their figures.

Statistics from three of Britain’s largest cosmetic surgery chains show almost 600 teenagers had the surgery last year.

One group has reported a more than fivefold increase. Transform, which has a chain of 22 clinics, performed 169 breast enlargements on 18-year-olds and 19-year-olds, up from 31 the year before. It now offers the surgery on credit with 0% interest.

The doctors say young women are reading weekly reports in magazines such as Love It!, Closer and Heat of celebrities who have altered their bodies by going under the knife and want to do the same.

Clinics also believe the credit deals have made the procedure — costing between £4,000 and £5,000 — more attractive to teenagers.

Shami Choudhry, a spokeswoman for Transform, said: “Young women read in magazines about personalities, like Chantelle, who have had breast augmentations and have a great influence on teenagers.”

Choudhry was referring to Chantelle Houghton, 24, from Brentwood, Essex, who won Channel 4’s Celebrity Big Brother in 2006 and has since had her breasts enlarged.

Houghton, who models Ultimo underwear, told Love It! last month: “I had my boobs enlarged from a 32B to a 32E to boost my self-confidence.”

She is said to have opted for the surgery when she went down a cup size after dieting. Victoria Beckham is also widely reported to have had breast implants.

“Eighteen and 19-year-olds are big consumers of weekly celebrity chat titles,” Choudhry added. “Every edition contains something about cosmetic surgery, and women who read these magazines often buy two or three of them a week.”

Other plastic surgery groups have experienced a similar increase in demand.

The Hospital Group, which has 14 clinics across Britain, carried out 203 breast augmentations on 18 and 19-year-olds last year, more than doubling the number performed in 2006.

The Harley Medical Group, which has 19 clinics nationwide, performed breast implant operations on 180 18 and 19-year-olds last year, compared with 90 the previous year.

The figures mirror the increase in America. Statistics published by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery show that 7,882 teenagers had the operation last year, compared with 3,087 in 2006.

In Britain there is such demand for cosmetic surgery among young women that a new company was launched last year targeting 18 to 35-year-olds.

The group, called MYA, Make Yourself Amazing, advertises testimonies on its website from Naomi Millbank-Smith, who appeared on the Channel 4 television show Shipwrecked last year. Millbank-Smith, 21, said: “I have always considered breast enlargement, but after appearing on Shipwrecked I finally convinced myself to go through with it.

“Being filmed for five months in a bikini is enough to make anyone think long and hard about their figure and I found myself becoming envious of the curves other girls had.”

Last week Kefah Mokbel, a consultant breast surgeon at St George’s and the Princess Grace hospitals, both in London, performed a breast enlargement operation on a 19-year-old.

Mokbel said: “This young woman wanted the procedure to enhance her confidence about her body image when going on beach holidays. Her parents funded the procedure.”

Most British cosmetic surgery clinics do not operate on women under the age of 18. One cosmetic group, SurgiCare, has a policy of turning away 18 and 19-year-olds and advising them to come back when they are 20.

Mark Bury, its chief executive, said: “In some cases these women have not finished developing. Even if they have, surgery may be a knee-jerk reaction or a result of peer pressure.” Eileen Bradbury, a consultant psychologist who counsels patients considering surgery at the Alexandra hospital in Cheadle, Cheshire, and at Harley Street, in central London, said: “If you have surgery for the first time when you are 18, then you face a lot of surgery throughout your life to replace the implants, with the possibility of something going wrong every time.”

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