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be associated with one’s interest in under-
going cosmetic surgery,” says Jávo.
She sent a comprehensive questionnaire
to 3500 women aged 18 to 35 years who
live in Norway’s three most northerly
counties of Nordland, Troms and Finn-
mark. Fully 1862 women responded to
the survey. From these responses, Jávo
could see that factors such as lower edu-
cation, poorer body image and “body dys-
morphic disorder”-like symptoms could
be used to predict which women would
consider cosmetic surgery (see fact boxes ).
“We also saw that women who had been
bullied about their appearance wanted
some kind of intervention,” she said.
Her analysis shows that a surgical tummy
tuck was particularly attractive to women
who had given birth.
Most want liposuction
Women were most eager to change their
breasts and body fat. As many as 25 per
cent wanted liposuction, 15 per cent
wanted breast enlargements and 7 per
cent would change their nose.
“We saw psychological factors behind
all three of the most popular procedures.
Twenty per cent of women in the study
could be classified as having eating disor-
ders, and more than half of these women
wanted liposuction,” explains Jávo.
This figure is almost three times as high
as for women without eating disorders,
where only 18 per cent said they wanted
liposuction.
Jávo’s doctorate shows for the first time in
Norway a link between eating disorders
and liposuction. Women who took the
survey had to answer questions about
plastic surgery
University of Tromsø – Labyrint E/13 ••• 31
Text: Elisabeth Øvreberg
Photo: Colourbox.com