CHRISTA Bradley first got a taste for plastic surgery at age 13 when she went under the knife to have her ears pinned back.

Seventeen years later, in 1992, she had a nose job and her never-ending mission to turn back the clock began in earnest.

She has since worn a path to the surgeon's theatre, undergoing a total of 29 operations and 62 cosmetic procedures to improve her looks. The total cost: $178,800.

Ms Bradley now lays claim to be the most cosmetically transformed person in Australia.

"I couldn't stop. I was like a kid in a candy store,'' the 44-year-old Central Coast woman said.

"When I'm cremated all you'll get back is a rubber ball.''

After the nose job, she decided other improvements were needed.

"A short time later I noticed that my outer thighs and buttocks were no longer in proportion and this bothered me, and I'd always had an issue with my thin upper lip,'' she said.

"I told the surgeon: 'Give me Angelina Jolie's lips'.''

Since then the divorcee has been sucked, tucked, pulled and peeled.

"My husband at the time said: 'Christa, this has got to stop'.''

But she couldn't. She has had multiple breast and nose jobs, and liposuction on her thighs, stomach, back, ribs, knees and chin "until there were no fat pockets left''.

However, Ms Bradley denies she is addicted. She said her difficult marriage and the death of her only daughter had driven her quest for outer beauty.

"I agree that sometimes surgery is addictive and that we all find a crutch when we are psychologically incapacitated,'' she said.

Her obsession has become a lucrative business, Advanced Medi -Travel, a medical tourism travel agency. Since 2004 she has assisted 1000 people to travel to Thailand for surgery.

So is Ms Bradley happy with how she looks? "I'm finally at peace with myself. Now I just help others to make themselves feel good,'' she said.

She turns 45 next month but believes she could pass as being in her mid-30s. "I have almost a Playboy body now,'' she said.

Despite that, the cosmetic enhancements will continue.

"Once you get yourself looking how you want, you have to maintain it,'' Ms Bradley said.

That means Botox three times a year as well as facial lasers and fillers. "These are annual services to maintain my youth.''

Psychologist Grant Brecht said an increasing number of women were becoming hooked on plastic surgery.

"People can certainly go from trying it once to going on and having many procedures and we see really bizarre outcomes,'' Mr Brecht said.

"Like any addiction it can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.''

Mr Brecht said relationship breakdowns often drove the body image obsession.

Ms Bradley said she was driven to have plastic surgery as her marriage fell apart.

"I thought if I'm going to have to go back out on the market you're (my husband) going to pay for me to look good because you have made me miserable. It probably wasn't a healthy attitude.''

Ms Bradley said her medical tourism business also offered counselling services to those contemplating surgery.

At Bangkok's Bumrungrad Hospital she had a lower face lift, hair transplant, breast enlargement as well liposuction, Botox, lip filler and teeth whitening.

"At this time I also had lower tattoo liner performed under my eyes, which was very painful,'' she said. "It was so affordable I could't stop.''

Ms Bradley, who is single, said her change had been so dramatic that an old friend did not recognise her recently. "I told her I'm so full of plastic, don't put me in front of a fire because I'll melt.

"The thickening of the lips has really boosted my look. But I'd still love Angelina Jolie's lips.'