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Jo MacDonald celebrated her 30th birthday last month by buying her first mini-skirt and showing off the knees that cost her £2,000.

Until that day, Jo's knees had always been covered up. In her teens, she went on a beach holiday with friends - and went swimming in her jeans.

"I've always had ghastly shaped legs. I really hated them, especially my fat knees," she says. Jo is one of an increasing number of British women who have turned to liposuction to improve the last part of the female figure to be targeted by cosmetic surgery: dumpy legs and lumpy knees.

The technique removes cellulite or subcutaneous fat from around the knees, which can then be redistributed to "pad out" knobbles for a smoother shape. The operation is simple. Under anaesthetic, small punctures are made in the area to be reduced. Then a mixture of saline solution and anaesthetic is injected under the skin to break down the fat.

Hollow metal rods the diameter of a large knitting needle and up to 12in long are then inserted into the puncture holes and moved around under the skin while the melted fat is sucked away.

At £2,000, the operation is not cheap - but Jo, a mother of two, is thrilled.

"I would have paid £5,000 if I'd known I was going to feel this good," she says. "I weigh 8st 4lbs at 4ft 11ins, so I'm not actually fat. But my legs were always fat and terrible, especially after having the children. It runs in the family. I've always worn trousers. Even playing tennis I wear track suit pants."

She read about the operation in a magazine and decided to investigate further. Soon she had signed up for the treatment with top Harley Street surgeon Anthony Erian.

In June, Mr Erian took fat from her thighs, lower buttocks and knees in a operation to cure what he calls "jodhpur syndrome".

"I have to say it was painful afterwards," says Jo, who lives in Colchester. "My legs were black and blue. But all the bruising had gone in four weeks, and the tiny irregular scars are virtually unnoticeable.

"When I got my mini skirt on my birthday I was a bit wary. It was a tight Lycra number and it looked super. My husband said I looked wonderful. I've kept my operation quiet, and people don't really notice although they all remark on how wonderfully slim I look. All the clothes I wear now show off my figure more, and I feel much more confident and fitter, too."

Until the liposuction technique was perfected, people with fat, knobbly legs or knock knees just had to live with their problem.