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At 5ft 8in tall and a willowy size 8, Kate Lavery has a figure most women would envy. Yet as summer approached every year, the idea of exchanging her skinny jeans for a floaty dress or a pair of cropped trousers filled her with dread. Like Cheryl Fernandez-Versini, Dame Helen Mirren and countless other beautiful and elegant women, Kate suffered from 'cankles' - ankles so wide they appear to merge into the calf, giving a distinct sausage shape to the lower leg.

Probably genetic and impervious to the usual body-fixing panaceas such as hard graft in the gym and strict diet, cankles are one of the problems body-conscious women are most desperate to get rid of. Aside from resorting to painful, costly and debilitating liposuction to remove excess fat from the area, reducing cankles has been virtually impossible - until now.

A new, non-surgical treatment has been developed that promises to streamline chunky ankles in just 15 minutes. Using a technique that is becoming increasingly popular for facelifts, it involves dissolvable threads being inserted under the skin, then pulled tight, to hoist tissue up and stop it pooling around the ankle.

Zebun Islam, a 44-year-old paralegal from London, is a delighted convert to the cankle lift and is thrilled with the results she's got from it

As more threads are added with a very fine needle, they form a mesh that supports the tissue and also encourages new collagen to be produced, giving the skin a thicker, tighter, firmer appearance.

Doubtless critics will see the availability of cankle lifts as a ridiculous example of society's increasingly narcissistic obsession with trying to perfect every minute aspect of our appearance, but there will be countless others for whom news of the treatment will be greeted with joy.

Many sufferers view their cankles as little short of a curse, preventing them from wearing short skirts, capri pants and ballet pumps for fear of looking frumpy.

The treatment, offered by Professor Syed Haq at the Invictus Humanus clinic in London's Harley Street, costs £450 (a fraction of the £1,500 to £5,000 price of liposuction), is virtually pain-free and has no recovery time.

Like the facelift version, which Professor Haq also performs, cankle lifts are proving increasingly popular with women who want to achieve a subtle, but noticeable, difference in the time it takes to pop out for a lunchtime sandwich.

'Thread lifts for the face and neck have really taken off in Britain in the past 18 months for people who want a natural result and don't want to go under the knife,' he says.

'I realised the same principle could be applied to ankles, as well as other parts of the body, including knees, arms and thighs, but the results have been even better than I expected. The procedure is already becoming very popular with women who didn't think there was any way to get rid of their cankles.'

Before, left, and after, right: The procedure made quite a difference to Zebun's ankles, and she was extremely pleased with the result

Kate, a nurse who lives in Belfast, had lost hope of finding a solution to her chunky ankles. 'I've always been slim and fit, but all the exercise in the world could not change the shape of my ankles, which were thick and really noticeable on my small frame,' she says. 'My mum and my grandma had them, too.

'I couldn't wear cropped trousers, because they drew attention to them, and if I wore a skirt I would cover my legs in bronzing makeup to try to contour them to make my ankles look slimmer.

'I thought there was nothing I could do about them, so I resigned myself to putting up with them.'

Last year, a friend who lived in London told Kate about the new procedure. Kate immediately looked it up online and booked an appointment with Professor Haq after sending him photographs of her ankles to ensure that she was a suitable candidate.

Zebun, pictured, is very happy with the results of the treatment is confidently wearing cropped trousers and skirts

Unfortunately, the treatment is not appropriate for everyone. Some women's cankles are the result of wide bones, which cannot be altered. 'But in the majority of cases, it's the tissue,' says Professor Haq.

'It can be thick or fatty, or there could be swelling caused by fluid retention, in which cases the ankle can be sculpted.'

Kate went for a consultation last December and underwent the procedure on the same day.

'I was sceptical about whether a treatment that sounded so quick and simple would really make any difference, but I thought it was worth a try,' she says.

An anaesthetic cream was applied to her ankles before the threads were inserted. 'The tiny needles were similar to those used in acupuncture and I couldn't feel any pain,' she says.

Microscopic threads are inserted into the hypodermis, the inner layer of the skin that contains the fatty deposits. The threads are made from polydioxanone (PDO), a colourless, crystalline, biodegradable synthetic polymer. They have been used in suturing in surgery for more than 20 years and are broken down naturally by the body over time, so the effects of the cankle lift will last between two and three years.

Professor Haq uses eight to 12 threads per ankle and sometimes adds a few more a month after the first treatment if he thinks they are required.

The threads cause mild inflammation beneath the skin, which stimulates the production of collagen, the protein that provides scaffolding for the skin. Peak results are achieved after this has happened at around four to six months after the lift.

As with any cosmetic procedure, PDO thread lifts carry a risk of complications, although they are usually minor. They include bruising and infections, which can be treated by antibiotics.

Sometimes, uneven or asymmetrical results can be a risk, along with the threads moving beneath the skin or becoming visible, but the chances of these problems occurring can be minimised by making sure you choose a highly experienced practitioner.

Zebun had her ankle lift last November and had a top-up treatment four weeks later. She saw an almost immediate improvement in the shape of her ankles and loves the difference

Kate's treatment was over in 15 minutes. 'Straightaway, I noticed a difference in the appearance of my ankles - they looked more streamlined,' she says.

'I had a few tiny bruises and took a couple of paracetamol, as they were a little sore, but that was all. My ankles were slightly swollen for a week, but they didn't stop me going shopping or out with my friends.

'When the swelling went down, they looked great - much slimmer and more elegant. I feel far more feminine.

Ankle shape is probably genetic and often can't be changed by diet or exercise, making them a tricky area (stock photo)

'I met a friend last week and she noticed straightaway that I was wearing cropped jeans and heels, which I would never have done before. When I told her what I'd had done, she said she could see a real difference.

'what she really noticed was how much more confident I am. Now I can't wait for summer. I am going to wear skirts and shorts all the time.'

Zebun Islam is another delighted convert to the cankle lift. The 44-year-old paralegal from London, who is married with two teenage children, had always been proud of her legs, but then she began to notice her ankles thickening as she grew older.

Kate Lavery, pictured above, despite being a willowly size eight, disliked her ankles as she felt they were large

'I used to play a lot of tennis and badminton and felt confident wearing a little skirt,' she says, 'but in the past few years, I noticed that my ankles were wider and less defined than they had been before.'

'It made me feel self-conscious. I started to cover up in long skirts and stopped wearing all my lovely, strappy sandals, because dainty shoes drew attention to my thick ankles.

'I used to love wearing ankle bracelets on holiday, but stopped because they looked awful on my chunky ankles.'

When a friend told her about the new thread lift for ankles, she was immediately keen to try it.

'I have had Botox and fillers and am always interested in the latest procedures, and I thought that the new ankle treatment sounded perfect,' she says.

Kate befiore ankle surgery, left, and after the simple, non-invasive procedure, right

'I wouldn't want to undergo drastic surgery, but I like treatments that make a subtle difference. My husband knew how self-conscious I had become about my legs, so he was very supportive.'

Zebun had her ankle lift last November and had a top-up treatment four weeks later. 'I had some swelling, but the day after the procedure my ankles looked the way they did before. The skin seemed much tighter and firmer, and there was a real definition between the ankles and the calves.

'After the top-up, they looked even better. They made my entire legs look more youthful again, so I am delighted. My husband said he had noticed a real difference, and he is looking forward to me getting out my badminton skirts again.'

Zebun says she would not hesitate to recommend the procedure for fellow cankle-sufferers: 'Thick ankles might not seem a big deal to some people, but if you can increase your confidence by making them slimmer and more defined inexpensively and in only a few minutes, why not?'

A sentiment many women with cankles would no doubt echo.