According to the Daily Mail, it’s a growing trend in British plastic surgery: women getting breast augmentation because one of their friends did it. The British news outlet tells the story of four friends who got breast augmentation after another friend. According to a plastic surgeon cited in the article, it’s a growing trend. It’s hard to say whether it’s also a trend in the US, but there are a number of reasons why women might be more likely to get breast augmentation after a friend. As one of the women in the article says, many women imagine that breast augmentation is for celebrities only, but once a friend has the procedure, it becomes easier for a woman to imagine it for herself. There are many women who idly dream of breast augmentation, but assume it’s impossible, or ridiculously expensive. Then a friend has it and something that was inconceivable is suddenly in reach. Another important factor is that once a friend has breast augmentation, women suddenly have a resource they can trust about the procedure. There is a wealth of information about breast augmentation on the internet, but how trustworthy is it? And if the only person you can talk to in person about the procedure is someone at a surgeon’s office, how much can you trust them? But you can ask your friend about all the details and you know she’s going to be honest with you. Many women, too, assume that everyone with breast implants looks like the big fake ones they see on TV like Pamela Anderson or JWoww, and for everyday women who are increasingly the ones looking for breast augmentation, that’s just not an attractive look. When your friend has breast augmentation, you can look at her results and judge them for yourself in person. And if you like them, it’s a huge incentive to get them yourself. And then there’s the “keeping up with the Joneses” effect. Your friend has them and you want them, or, more importantly, you want the look and the confidence that your friend has. It’s a common misconception that women get breast augmentation in order to look good to men, but more often women are concerned with how they look to themselves and to their female friends. Men enter into the equation only tangentially. If a friend or acquaintance has had a breast augmentation and you are considering one now in the Philadelphia area, please contact board certified plastic surgeon Dr. David A. Bottger today.