Berlusconi eyes are for his wife

Italian papers scrutinised the prime minister's new look (picture: La Repubblica)

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Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has thanked his wife for coaxing him to have cosmetic surgery.

He said the idea for his controversial eye enhancement came from Veronica.

But he was so delighted with the result that he planned more changes, he said at a meeting with fashion designers in the capital, Rome.

The 67-year-old prime minister sparked mass interest when appeared in public a week ago with a new look after disappearing for more than a month.

'Feeling fine'

The image-conscious politician looked younger and thinner and admitted to having cosmetic surgery around his eyes and going on a diet - all after persuasion from his wife.

I look in the mirror and I like what I see and I think I am more pleasing to others too Silvio Berlusconi

"She convinced me to do it. Veronica is behind the whole thing," he said, adding that he was pleased with the outcome.

"I like the way I look. I feel fine. I look in the mirror and I like what I see and I think I am more pleasing to others too."

Mr Berlusconi denied having had surgery on other areas of his face but said that may yet come.

"I am not finished yet, as you can see."