BY: CHERYL LIM

OPERATIONS manager Priscilla Goh wanted a sharper and straighter nose. But the 33-year-old didn't want the invasiveness of the traditional rhinoplasty - a nose job.

Typically, the latter would require general anaesthetic, a few hours at the hospital or clinic and considerable downtime. Hence, Ms Goh opted for the increasingly popular "lunch-time" fix, from Dr Martin Huang, director and consultant plastic surgeon of The Cosmetic Surgery Clinic at Paragon Medical Centre.

Said Ms Goh: "It was so quick, it took only 10 minutes. "There was little pain.It was done so naturally that no one noticed unless I told them."

And there are many more women like Ms Goh who opt for the convenience of these express procedures, which can be done in under an hour.

Seven aesthetic doctors and plastic surgeons my paper spoke to said that they are seeing up to a 50-per-cent increase in business in the past year.

The top three most commonly performed express procedures are lasers, Botox and fillers, according to Dr J.J. Chua of JJ Chua Rejuvenative Cosmetic and Laser Surgery at Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre.

This growth in quickie procedures is partly because of advances in technology. Now, you can enlarge your breasts and buttocks in less than an hour, using fillers.

Previously, such procedures might have landed a patient in the hospital or clinic for a few hours, and they might also have had to deal with longer downtime.

Fillers such as the hyaluronic acid-based Macrolane deliver almost immediate effects and can last two to three years, according to Dr Chua.

Marcrolane has been available in Singapore since November. "Patients can increase, on average, half a cup size in one session. If they want to gain one cup size, they can repeat the procedure in three months," Dr Chua told my paper.

He charges about $7,000 for breast fillers and "usually, 100ml of filler is used for breasts and 200ml for buttocks", said Dr Chua.

Dr Huang too reported similarly brisk business. He told my paper: "For example, for procedures using fillers for the breast, I saw an increase of 20 to 30 per cent in my business in the past six months. I do about one to two filler treatments on breasts every month. Each treatment lasts from 45 to 90 minutes."

At Dr Huang's clinic, breast fillers would set you back by between "$8,000 and $15,000 for the breasts and $15,000 and $30,000 for the buttocks".

Besides puffing up body parts, hyaluronic-acid fillers are also commonly used to enhance different parts of the face, like the nose, chin, cheekbones and forehead. This is on top of its traditional use to smoothen wrinkles.

However, there is one drawback: While the express procedures, especially those which use non-permanent fillers, may be quick and easy, they typically last "two to three years" and results may not be consistent throughout, said Dr Chua.

For more my paper stories click here.