The Italian government is to ban girls under the age of 18 from undergoing breast enlargement operations.

The Daily Telegraph reports that health officials in Italy plan to crack down on authorised and unauthorised surgeons carrying out botched and substandard operations on young girls.

An undersecretary within Italy's welfare ministry, Francesca Martini, said that the government in Italy wanted to establish a register of approved plastic surgeons. Ms Martini said:

‘This legislation is primarily aimed at the growing number of girls under 18 who have breast enhancement surgery purely for fashion reasons – and have no idea of the risks involved.

‘Far too many adolescent girls are unaware of the fact that there are risks with this type of surgery and it should not be used purely for fashion and looks. At the moment we have a Wild West, cowboy-style system of plastic surgery for young women and this must stop.’

The Italian Society of Plastic Surgeons said that around 85,000 breast enhancement operations take place every year in Italy – 70 per cent are for cosmetic reasons and 30 per cent are for reconstructive purposes after cancer treatments.

Francesco D'Andrea from the Italian Society of Plastic Surgeons said the society was ‘very much in favour’ of the proposed legislation in Italy because of the number of unauthorised surgeons carrying out the operations.

‘Banning under 18's from having the surgery is also a good idea because these girls are just too young to be operated on. Some surgeons have no idea what they are doing and create huge risks.’

In the UK, there is currently no age limit to prevent very young girls undergoing breast enhancement or plastic surgery.

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