FORGET a list of New Year's resolutions, some Canberrans will be starting next year with a new look.
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The Christmas period is one of the most popular times to go under the knife, according to the head of one of Canberra's leading cosmetic surgery practices.
Cheryl Taylor, chief executive of Canberra Aesthetic Plastic Surgery in Deakin, said they had been very busy right up until Thursday, when they closed until January.
Injectable treatments, including botox, were popular among people attending a lot of Christmas parties, she said.
''People leading into holidays like to feel refreshed leading into them, you're going off to see the family, you have a bit of botox before you go and you're not grumpy around the Christmas table,'' she said.
Non-surgical procedures were also being given as Christmas gifts, she said.
''We do gift vouchers, and we've done quite a lot this year in botox. The girls are coming in then the husbands decide that's an easy gift,'' she said.
Women were also giving men hair removal treatments.
The summer holidays were also popular with university students wanting breast surgery, she said.
Patients were evenly split between young women wanting to enlarge their breasts through augmentation and those wanting a reduction.
Ms Taylor said some university students worked through the year to pay for breast surgery, which cost between $12,000 and $13,000 for an augmentation, and $8500-$9000 for a reduction.
''Because they get a six or an eight-week break from uni, they actually like that time to recover and also that gives people enough time to forget what they looked like the year before,'' she said.
But Ms Taylor said she recommended women schedule their breast surgeries slightly earlier.
''It does take about three months for the breasts to settle, so even though we do have a run of breast augmentation up to Christmas we actually try to encourage people to have it around October, so they're looking good and they're actually able to go into a bikini in summer and show them off,'' she said.
It is not just women who are going beyond traditional methods in the never-ending quest to stay looking young.
''It's nothing for us to have three guys sitting in the waiting room, and none of them know why they're there, but they're all there for the same thing,'' Ms Taylor said.