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The girl walks nervously through the cosmetic surgeon's door. It has taken her months to pluck up the courage and also raise the money to end an obsession she has with her nose.

To you and me she looks like any other young woman, neither prettier nor uglier than the rest of us. But she believes a nose job will provide an answer to the self-hatred she feels. A month later she walks out looking worse than she did before.

She'll never admit it but she has just joined Britain's growing band of cosmetic surgery junkies

Cosmetic junkies are people - not always women - obsessed by cosmetic surgery. Their search for perfection is never ending. Many cosmetic junkies develop their obsession after bad surgery. They begin with a legitimate reason to feel that their lives have been destroyed by the surgery and eventually the trauma of coping with a botched operation becomes a lifelong obsession in itself. But an increasing number of cosmetic junkies undergo perfectly satisfactory surgery for some self-perceived blemish and remain unhappy.

Cosmetic surgeons report that these people will go on and on having operations - sometimes on the same feature. And whether the origin of their obsession is real or imagined, it can drive sufferers to extremes.

Natasha Anderson, by anyone's standards a beautiful woman, is currently awaiting sentence after admitting to criminal damage. A court heard how she had waged a bitter war on a cosmetic surgeon she believed had botched her nose job. Anderson, 27, conducted a five-month revenge campaign in which she painted abusive messages on the front door of the surgeon's Harley Street surgery. Her solicitor said she had tried to kill herself with drugs overdoses four times after the nose job.

Cosmetic surgery is available to anyone who has the money. But with this growing trend comes the era of the cosmetic junkie.

In the U.S. the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons reports that in 1990 more than 13,000 people had their chins rebuilt; 79,000 had eyelifts; 20,000 had tummy tucks; 89,000 had breast augmentations; 109,000 had liposuction and nearly 50,000 had facelifts - some as early as the age of 36.

Industry watchers say that the obsession with 'perfection' is heading towards the same levels in Britain as the U.S. An estimated 75,000 people are expected to undergo cosmetic surgery here this year.

How does beauty addiction begin? Why does it become so compulsive?

Something as fleeting as a chance remark can turn a germ of dissatisfaction into a driving obsession.

Paul Richards, 26, of London, was almost driven to suicide after a £1,500 nose job in 1989 which he feels left him uglier than before. He has always been obsessed by his nose and says: "I wanted to look more attractive. I had a long, big hook nose and I felt very ugly."

His addiction took hold when he was serving in a London department store and a well-known female celebrity commented on his appearance. Paul remembers: "She only said, 'Isn't he handsome?' but I was convinced she was being sarcastic and making fun of me."

The bridge of his nose collapsed and he had to have a second nose job in 1990, costing him a further £2,000 to build it up again. "It's much better now. But I feel that it's still not right. It looks hideous in my eyes. I have no self-confidence at all. When people notice it and comment on it, referring to it as a 'sticky-out' nose, I want to bury myself alive.

"I have contemplated killing myself and I used to see a psychiatrist because of the depression I suffered."

Cindy Jackson, 30, from London, has had breast implants, her upper and lower eyelids done twice, her nose twice, two facelifts, a chemical peel, liposuction in five places and a collagen lip injection. Of her two nose jobs she says: "The first cost £3,500 and it was worse than the nose I started with and it pointed downwards. The second nose job gave me exactly the nose I wanted."

Our pictures of Cindy show her profile before her first operation, after her first operation and as it is today. Which is the most beautiful is purely a matter of opinion. But Cindy denies being a cosmetic junkie. "I want a good life. I always want to be on the side that wins and good looks count for this."

Harley Street cosmetic surgeon, Mr Anthony Erian agrees: "There is so much competition in relationships and at work. A young and pretty person has a better chance than an ugly person. Some people blame one thing for all their failures in life. I knew one patient who had nine nose jobs. You get to know patients who have done the rounds. There comes a point when you have to say, 'Sorry we can't help you anymore.'"

Cosmetic surgeons must get to the root of the patient's reasons for wanting surgery. Mr Erian explains: "Psychology is very important - you have to find out if they are seeking surgery for some other reason. If you operate on these cases it will make them worse and even more depressed."

In some cases, patients become so obsessed with their bodies that they will go to any extreme to undergo surgery.

Donna Furber, 17, battered her elderly aunt to death to get money for an operation to remove the fat from her legs.

And one American woman, Beryl Challis, recently shot dead her plastic surgeon then turned the gun on herself after a disastrous facelift. Such extreme post-operation reaction is rare. But being treated for depression is not. Manageress Sarah McClean, 39, of London, went to her doctor to be treated for depression after her £3,500 facelift last summer went wrong. She says: "I wanted to have the sagging around my jowls removed. It has left the skin tight around my face and saggy where it should be tight.

"I feel so miserable. I had to consult my doctor to be treated for depression afterwards. The operation made me neurotic."

Sarah now wants to undergo further surgery to correct the mistake.

It is possible to beat beauty addiction. As a bodybuilder, Louise Carey, 31, of Ilford, Essex, has a predisposition towards being obsessive about her appearance. After having a successful breast and nose operation, she then went on to have eyelifts. But after four operations, she feels she has now happily kicked the habit.

"When I kept going back, the surgeon thought I was creating all this fuss but he did my upper eyelids again. I was so depressed. I wanted my eyes put right so much."

Louise eventually went to London's Belvedere Clinic two weeks ago where she had a final operation: "It was a success. I just feel so much happier now."