the gap between the domed structure and the skin surface both domed structure and membrane may be transparent to enhance vision of the surgical site the negative pressure is determined so as to be sufficient to lift the skin to the dome whilst not being too great to cause the capillaries to burst a further benefit of the domed negative pressure structure is that it can be used to condition the tissue or organ to form a constant shape defined by the dome without changing shape such as due to gravitational effect during a change of pose an example of this is in the breast diagnostic and surgery as shown in fig5 in this figure b indicates the breast zone while x indicates the position of a tumour it is known that in breast diagnostic images may be taken prone whilst a surgical operation may be performed supine this can lead to a considerable difference in shape of the organ due to gravitational effects when changing pose the use of the proposed device to condition the breast to a constant form can ensure a consistent shape between imaging and intervention irrespective of pose fig6 shows another embodiment of a surgical lift device according to the invention elements corresponding to those of fig1 to 5 are identified by like reference numerals the embodiment of fig6 represents an alternative viable and cost effective means of avoiding air being sucked through apertures 13 when applying negative pressure this embodiment does not have the tubular walls 13 a but is provided with a thin transparent plastic non permeable sheet 40 which covers.