PRESS ASSOCIATION -- More than seven in 10 young women want to have plastic surgery and almost half are planning to go under the knife in the near future, a survey has found.
The poll of more than 1,000 women aged between 18 and 30 found that 61% think they have a right to cosmetic procedures if they have insecurities about the way they look.
Some 72% said they want to have cosmetic surgery and 49% are planning to have work done at some point in the near future.
More than a third (35%) of readers surveyed by More! magazine thought that cosmetic surgery should be more readily available for free on the NHS. More than half of women questioned (57%) said they wanted to have cosmetic surgery because they were unhappy with the way they look.
More than one third (35%) said they would have an operation to make themselves more confident.
Most women also said they did not feel it was something they would feel ashamed of. Only 31% of respondents said they would keep it a secret if they had surgery, and 55% said they thought the results of surgery are usually obvious to other people.
Almost four out of five women (79%) said they would be supportive of their boyfriend or husband if he wanted to have cosmetic surgery.
Chantelle Horton, editor of More! magazine said: "The results show a worrying trend towards young women becoming obsessed with creating the "perfect" body image. It is clear that young women see surgery as a normal, acceptable and desirable way to correct their perceived imperfections and they genuinely believe this would make them happier.
"These findings show that celebrities like Katie Price, Heidi Montag and Chloe Sims, who have all spoken openly about going under the knife, have normalised surgery and made it seem a safe and aspirational thing to do.
"It is interesting to see how many young women aspire to cosmetic surgery when our most successful cover stars here at more! are girls like Jessie J, Kim Kardashian, Frankie Sandford and Katy Perry, who all have a range of different bodies - and are all natural."