Medical experts expressed safety concerns last night after it emerged that a clinic is offering one-hour breast implant operations that can be carried out in the patient's lunch hour.

Medispa Clinic, in Adlington, Cheshire, which claims its patients enjoy a shorter recovery time and less bruising and bleeding, said their offer of speedy cosmetic surgery was a response to the huge local demand for breast augmentation.

Patients are given a local anaesthetic and are therefore awake throughout the procedure, which cost £4,500.

"This has revolutionised breast enlargement surgery," said clinic owner Carl Lewis, who estimates that the total time spent in the clinic by patients is under four hours.

"The recovery time is amazing. You walk into hospital and within hours you are walking out. Professional women haven't got time to spend lying in hospital and are turning away from general anaesthetic. In years to come the lunch time boob job will be happening across the industry."

But the speed with which the surgery can be carried out has prompted concerns about the safety of the procedure in some medical circles.

David Whitby, consultant plastic surgeon at Wythenshawe Hospital and a member of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, suggested quick operations could have drawbacks.

"Local anaesthetic is not completely risk free because you are still using drugs," he said.

"It certainly works for some procedures, but even if we did patients under local anaesthetic, I am not sure I would discharge them straight away."

"If you go home straight away your blood pressure goes up and you have more risk of bleeding," Mr Whitby said.

Jessica Kirkham, a student from Cheshire, was among the first to go under the knife at the clinic.

Miss Kirkham, who underwent the surgery to change her breast size from 34B to 34D, said: "You have to spend two weeks recovering from the traditional general anaesthetic operation and I couldn't afford time off."

The student said she had returned home on the same day as the operation and was able to go shopping two days later. The surgery was partly a 21st birthday present from her mother and part-funded by a student loan.

Explaining her reasons for undergoing breast enlargement, she said: "Having small breasts doesn't bother some people but it bothered me.

"We live in a visual culture and my confidence was really affected. My mum said I could have the operation for my birthday."