Since the 1960s and the development of silicone breast prosthesis, breast augmentation surgery has become one of the most undertaken cosmetic surgeries in the world, with 329,000 procedures carried out in the US alone in 2006 - 80% of which were for cosmetic reasons.

Despite the thousands of women going under the knife, the safety and ethical aspects of the operation have long been questioned, with many critics suggesting that the motives behind such an operation are based on vanity more than anything else. With celebrities like Pamela Anderson and Carmen Electra gaining worldwide notoriety largely due to their breast implants in previous years, it would be easy to come to the same conclusion, with very few people recognising the psychological benefits cosmetic breast surgery can offer. However, a recent study, carried out by Cynthia Figueroa-Haas, a clinical assistant professor at the University of Florida's College of Nursing, set out to prove that there is a direct link between breast surgery and the improvement of self esteem among women who undergo the procedure.

Ms. Figueroa-Haas - insisting that health care practitioners must understand the psychological benefits that breast surgery can offer - studied 84 women between the ages of 21 to 57. The participants in the study had been already scheduled for surgery, all undergoing the procedure for cosmetic reasons. Demographic questionnaires and pre-tests asking the eligible candidates to rate their self esteem were mailed out before their breast augmentation, with similar post-tests being sent to the participants two to three months after the procedure. Ms. Figueroa-Haas found upon reviewing the data that there was a direct correlation between the surgery and an improvement in many of the women's self esteem.

Using the widely accepted scientific scale - The Rosenburg Self Esteem Scale - it was found that the average self esteem score of the study participants rose from 20.7 on the 30 point Rosenburg scale before surgery, to 24.9 after the operation, clearly showing that, among many women, breast augmentation is considered a great way to not only combat certain signs of ageing, but to increase their self esteem.

Despite the results of the study showing genuine psychological improvements following plastic surgery for many of the woman involved in the study, Cynthia Figueroa-Haas' herself has warned that, while the self esteem of her study participants rose post surgery, breast surgery should not be seen as the cure to an individual's self esteem woes; encouraging cosmetic surgeons to screen for patients who may have deep rooted psychological issues that prevent them from ever being satisfied of their body.