The risks of going for a new look
The author whose novel was made into the hit film The First Wives Club died after having a facelift in January.
Olivia Goldsmith, 54, had been in a coma for eight days after suffering a severe reaction to the anaesthetic she was given.
She died at Manhattan's Lenox Hill Hospital after being transferred from a private clinic where she had the operation to tighten skin on her neck.
Goldsmith was the author of some 10 novels. The best known, The First Wives Club, was filmed in 1996 with Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler and Diane Keaton.
Only weeks after Goldsmith's death, a second woman died after a procedure at the same clinic, the Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital, one of the world's top plastic surgery centres.
Wife of former Scotland football captain
Colin Hendry nearly died after a botched tummy tuck operation. Denise Hendry, 38, suffered septicaemia, kidney failure, a heart attack and a collapsed lung after liposuction at the Broughton Park Hospital, near Preston, Lancashire, in April
2002. The surgeon had ripped her bowel. She was put on a life-support machine and doctors prepared her family for the worst. Her surgeon, Dr Gustaf Aniansson, was struck off the medical register by the General Medical Council.
- America has led the cosmetic surgery boom and carries out 40 per cent of the world's procedures.
- Globally the most popular operation is liposuction, followed by breast augmentation and Botox injections.
- In Britain, 75,000 operations are performed every year, 90 per cent on women. About 50,000 Botox injections were given in 2002.
- ?7 million in compensation has been paid out in Britain during the last 13 years. Common problems include leaking silicone breast implants and unsightly scars.
