health

The controversial boob job that lasts just 24 hours.

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We’ve all fantasised about changing something about our bodies now and then. But what if you could spend 24 hours with a different shape?

That’s the reality of a controversial new Cinderella breast enhancement, that offers patients to go up several cup sizes in just 20 minutes, but only for a day or so.

The technique, known as “InstaBreast” (no, we’re not joking) was developed by New York cosmetic surgeon Dr Norman Rowe.

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It involves injecting up to half a litre of saline solution into the patient’s breast tissue. Dr Rowe repeatedly repositions the needle to create the fuller breasts, then, after 24 to 48 hours, the saline solution slowly absorbs back into the blood stream, and the breasts deflate back to their normal size. Sterile saline solution is the same stuff they put in iV drips when you’re dehydrated, so it’s perfectly harmless.

The procedure takes just 20 minutes, and requires only a local anaesthetic. But it doesn’t come cheap, at $2,500US.

A patient who has had the treatment reported to Harpers Bazaar that it felt similar to Botox and fillers. As someone who has had fillers, and also several millilitres of  my own blood injected into my face (long story, watch this space), I call B.S. on that statement. The larger the volume of injectables going into your body, the more you feel it - and shooting half a litre of anything into your chest would feel seriously weird.

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While the saline solution is perfectly safe, the procedure does come with the risk of infection. One cosmetic surgeon, Dr Anthony Yuon told The Huffington Post: "I would recommend people to exercise caution. None of these procedures have been studied on lots of patients -- you may have one or two people that have the treatment done that say, 'Wow, I really liked it,' but what about the thousands of people that really need this to be tested on before we recommend it to the general population?"

Next, Dr Rowe plans to develop 'Vacation Breasts', which will involve an injection of saline and another substance, to make the saline absorb more slowly into the body.

Harpers Bazaar report that many people who undergo the Instabreast procedure are doing so to 'test drive' a more permanent augmentation - and for that purpose they make a lot of sense.

But the idea of injecting anything - even saline solution - straight into the breasts reminds me of the bad old days of breast implants when women were mutilated so badly, they wound up requiring mastectomies.

So far, the Instabreast procedure is only available in New York, but if it does make it to our shores, I'd make like Dr Yuon and proceed with caution.

If money wasn't an issue, would you try this?