SANTA ANA, California - British women have a different attitude to breast size than American women do.

In Great Britain, breast reductions are among the Top 5 most popular procedures by plastic surgeons - quite unlike their American counterparts.

To be sure, in both countries breast augmentation is the No 1 surgical procedure for cosmetic doctors, but in the United States a survey of physicians found relatively few breast reductions.

A recent survey of members of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons revealed that doctors perform one breast reduction for every two breast enhancements.

In contrast, a recent survey by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons found that doctors perform less than one breast implant removal for every 12 breast augmentations.

The two surveys were organiSed differently, so comparisons of results must be considered tentative. For example, the British survey includes a small number of men's breast-reduction operations (7 per cent) in with the overall total of breast reductions.

The American survey tallies men's breast reductions separately, but has only an implant-removal category. It doesn't break out any other breast-reduction procedures for women among the 1.8 million plastic surgeries it recorded last year.

In other comparisons of the two surveys:

Eyelid surgery is increasing in popularity in Great Britain (up 13 per cent last year), making it the No 2 most popular form of plastic surgery there.

In the United States, it's No 4, with 3 per cent growth.

Liposuction is No 3 in Great Britain (up 15 per cent last year). In the United States, it's No 2, with no growth last year.

Face lifts, at No 4, experienced "an impressive rise of 37 per cent" last year, the British surgeons' group said. In the US, face lifts are No 6, up 14 per cent.

Nose jobs are No 6 in Great Britain, up 13 per cent. They are No 3 in the United States, down 7 per cent.

The British survey does not cover Botox injections, which are the No 1 cosmetic procedure in the United States.

MCT