With surgeons able to fix every other part of our body in the quest for perfection, it was only a matter of time before feet fell under their aesthetic scrutiny. This week the singer Sandie Shaw told ITV's Daybreak that she bought herself a "foot lift" for her 60th birthday. "I had my bunions taken away, one toe shortened, one toe straightened. They are divine!" But is undergoing a serious operation for desirable feet in any way comparable to the ancient practice of Chinese foot binding?

Foot lift

When: Now.

Why: Kaser Nazir, podiatric surgeon at the Premier Foot and Ankle Clinic in London, says he receives calls from up to 30 women a week seeking cosmetic surgery on their feet. Many are for medical reasons, but he says a growing number of women want them for purely cosmetic reasons. "It is contentious," he admits. "Feet are functional and the mechanics can be affected by surgery, so it has to be done with caution."

How: Shortening toes – usually the digit next to the big toe – involves removing one of the joints and bone to create a smaller, if less moveable, toe. To remove a bunion, the metatarsal bones are cut and realigned, and bone and tissue removed. Two screws hold the foot together.

Effects: It takes around eight weeks to recover and complications can arise in around 5% of cases, according to Nazir, including infection, swelling and pain. ES

Foot binding

When: From the 11th century. Banned in 1912.

Why: The perfect foot, known as the golden lotus, was considered to be three inches long – a form you could only get with the foot essentially folded in half. In late imperial China, "lotus feet became the synonym for femininity, beauty, hierarchy and eroticism," writes Wang Ping in her book Aching For Beauty.

How: Girls – usually between the ages of about five and seven – had their feet wrapped tightly in 10ft bandages, which broke their malleable bones, forcing the toes to curl under the foot. Girls were forced to hop or walk long distances to speed up the crushing process.

Effects: A lifetime of disability, pain, infection and the stench from gangrenous flesh would follow, yet still these deformed trotter-like feet were considered beautiful and a status symbol.