Changing Faces - Rise in Cosmetic Surgery in Asia

Posted by Joel

TIMEasia

What we won’t do for beauty. Around Asia, womenâ€”and increasingly, menâ€”are nipping and tucking, sucking and suturing, injecting and implanting, all in the quest for better looks. In the past, Asia had lagged behind the West in catching the plastic surgery wave, held back by cultural hang-ups, arrested medical skills and a poorer consumer base. But cosmetic surgery is now booming throughout Asia like never before. In Taiwan, a million procedures were performed last year, double the number from five years ago. In Korea, surgeons estimate that at least one in 10 adults have received some form of surgical upgrade and even tots have their eyelids done. The government of Thailand has taken to hawking plastic surgery tours. In Japan, noninvasive procedures dubbed “petite surgery” have set off such a rage that top clinics are raking in $100 million a year…

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