Cosmetic surgery is a booming business.

The latest figures from the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons show 45,000 procedures were carried out by the surgeons it represents in 2014, about a third of all those licensed to do such operations.

Trebling that figure makes 135,000 procedures across the country.

No specific figures are available for Kent, but it is fair to say thousands have undergone cosmetic surgery in the last year.

When many of us think about ‘plastic surgery’, images of the enhanced breasts of model and businesswoman Katie Price or the blown-up lips of various TOWIE cast members, spring to mind.

The negative perception of these procedures and those that undergo them is an inescapable fact.

But why do so many people choose this irreversible path to changing their appearance?

Three Sittingbourne women shared their stories about why they did it and why they have no regrets.

NAME: Mia Stevens

AGE: 24

PROCEDURE COST: £4,500

RECOVERY PERIOD: 10 days

At 22, Mia was a young woman when she went under the knife.

She underwent surgery on her nose; a painful operation that involved a surgeon breaking her nose with a small mallet before resetting it in a 2.5 hour-long procedure.

In some cases, a patient may even have part of the bridge of their nose shaved down to remove a bump.

This was why Mia had it done, to remove a bump she absolutely despised.

She said: “I had it done because of what other people thought of my nose. I worked in a school [at the time] and the children would ask why I had such a big nose.”

Mia got it done just as she was starting a new job as a nanny. She wanted her new appearance to go with a new career.

In the days after her procedure, she contracted an infection and, in her own words, “was scared [she] had undone all of the good work of the surgeons.”

She’s had mixed reactions from the people who knew her both before and after the operation, some supportive but still promising her she did not need to have anything done in the first place.

Others have not been so kind: “I’ve had people say what a waste of money but I couldn’t agree less. It has been life-changing.

“The best thing I’ve ever done.”

NAME: Abbie Holland

AGE: 27

PROCEDURE COST: £4,500

RECOVERY PERIOD: Six weeks

In 2011, shortly after losing her grandmother and while at a low point in her life, Abbie’s mother paid for her to undergo breast enhancement surgery with inheritance cash.

She said of the decision: “My mum saw how sad it was making me so took me to see a surgeon.

“She thought they were fine but she saw what I was like. She approved everything: She picked the size, she picked the procedure.”

Abbie, a client support analyst for a travel management company, went from a C cup to an large E cup in under one-and-a-half hours lying in an operating theatre.

Like Mia, Abbie always saw something wrong with her breasts; a feeling they were not full enough which is something, she says, that made her feel “unattractive”, crippled her confidence and left her unable to even reveal her body to her boyfriend of six years, Stuart.

After giving birth to her daughter Poppy when she was 21, a bout of post-natal depression intensified her dissatisfaction with her appearance and she decided the only fix was the pricey procedure.

“I remember when I woke up, looking at them and I couldn’t believe it. I felt so much better.

“Stuart and I got married that year.”

NAME: Hayley Keeler

AGE: 30

PROCEDURE COST: NHS covered costs

RECOVERY PERIOD: 12 months

It was 12 years ago that Hayley’s top jaw was broken and pulled forward, her bottom jaw also broken and pushed back, a section of bone from either side of her moth removed and metal plates and pins inserted to hold her mouth together. Oh, and her nose was broken too.

Why go through something so obviously excruciatingly painful?

Hayley suffered from something that affects around 10% of the UK in various forms - an underbite or, in medical-speak, prognathism. Whereby the bottom of the jaw protrudes much further than the top and, in many cases, leaves the sufferer unable to close their mouth.

But the nursery nurse doesn’t remember the pain quite as much as she remembers the months that followed it: “My life just completely changed - I went from not having any friends to going out clubbing.

“I was more confident in myself - maybe too confident - because I felt so good about myself. I became nasty, I had been bullied for so long that I became a bully.”

She met her partner, David, when she was 20 and she credits him with toning down the pattern of behaviour that began following her corrective operation.

But Hayley’s ride was not a completely smooth one.

She suffered complications after one of the metal plates in her jaw had to be removed after it was placed at an incorrect angle and caused her horrendous pain.

The operation also left her with nerve damage that means she has no sensation in her lower lip.

But, she says, it was worth it: “I started living after it”.