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I’d read about this phenomenon somewhere before we arrived in Tehran so it didn’t come as a surprise but Kate didn’t believe me until we’d seen the third or fourth person walk past with nose adorned with a delicate white post-surgical plaster.

It really is all the rage here. Pity the young woman (and even the occasional young man) who hasn’t had cosmetic surgery to downsize and beautify her (his) nose.

I was quite taken with this image, captured at Chehel Sotun Palace in Esfahan, which shows young post-operative woman reaching out to her mum in full conservative chador. In some ways it illustrates the contrast between a conservative religious regime and a population with a modern and independent outlook.