Demand for anal bleaching rises by 23% as women follow in the footsteps of celebrities including Sophie Kasaei, Charlotte Crosby and Kardashian sisters (Details, pics)

Demand for anal bleaching has risen by about a fifth in the past year as women 'feel under pressure to look like porn stars', figures suggest.

The trend was sparked after celebrities – including Sophie Kasaei, Charlotte Crosby and Kourtney Kardashian – revealed they have had the procedure.

It involves lightening the colour of the skin around the anus for cosmetic purposes, to make it more uniform with the surrounding area.

Some treatments are applied in a salon by a cosmetic technician – including laser therapy – and others are sold as cream that can be applied at home.

Anal bleaching hit the headlines when Marnie Simpson bleached Sophie's bottom on Geordie Shore back in April. Now a leading medical aesthetic clinic based in London has reported a large increase in the number of women – and sometimes men – asking for the procedure.

Sheri Johnson, clinic manager at HB Health of Knightsbridge, said: 'We have seen a rise of 23 per cent in the past year at the clinic. Laser therapy is the most popular, accounting for around 95 per cent and cream treatments about five per cent.

'It's predominately women who come for the bleaching but we have had a few men in this year too.'

There's not one particular age group, we get young women right through to older women.

Marnie and Sophie's former co-star Charlotte Crosby confessed she had the procedure done on Celebs Go Dating – much to the shock of her hunky dinner companion Danny.

'II think women are feeling under pressure from their partners to emulate the look of adult stars that are seen in porn.

'The procedure is performed with local anesthesia as 'some people may find it painful' as Ms Johnson explains.

And Kourtney Kardashian also admitted to getting the procedure on Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami.

She said: 'People may have a darker colouring around the anus for lots of reasons.'It may be genetic, or as a result of hormonal changes, age or other conditions.

WHY DO MORE WOMEN WANT 'DESIGNER VAGINAS'?

According to figures from the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery almost 100,000 women across the world underwent labiaplasty surgery in 2015.

In the UK alone labiaplasty popularity has soared, with the most recent figures from the NHS indicating 2,000 women in the UK underwent the procedure in 2010.

Contrary to what feminists may assert, the rise in demand for so-called designer vaginas has virtually nothing to do with pornography, one doctor claims.