China's young lose face in the pursuit of beauty

Wang Jing is haunted by her reflection: the looking glass frames a crooked mouth and numb, motionless cheeks.

In the pursuit of perfection, last year the 31-year-old former office worker from Shanghai went under the knife in Seoul, Republic of Korea (ROK). She hoped bigger eyes and a V-shaped face would help her find a handsome boyfriend and improve her employment prospects.

Glancing through her old photos, many would struggle to find fault with the fair skin and small round face captured in the snapshots, but not Wang:"I wasn't beautiful enough for my ex-boyfriend, who left me for a younger, more attractive girl."

Wang is one of a growing number of Chinese women who travel to the ROK for cosmetic surgery but have been left with lasting physical -- and emotional -- scars after botched operations.

According to the ROK Ministry of Health and Welfare, approximately 210,000 medical tourists visited the reputed "kingdom of plastic surgery" in 2013. Chinese tourists made up 26.5 percent and topped the list.

Shortcut to success?

When Wang decided to go to Seoul, she felt she was fully prepared and understood the procedure. She had watched adverts promoting "magical" Seoul face-lifts on the Internet, and had been impressed by the "before-and-after" images.

At Wonjin Beauty Medical Group, she asked for a procedure that would give her extra fold in her eyelids. She was persuaded, however, into accepting at least two other operations including one on her cheekbones to give her a V-shaped face, considered the height of feminine beauty in much of East Asia.

The operations cost her nearly 120,000 yuan (19,000 U.S. dollars).

"I was told there was no risk. After the operation, the doctor said I would recover in a few months. Obviously, I didn't."

When she returned to China, she sought help from several hospitals but was told the damage was permanent and irreversible.

Instead of boosting her confidence, the surgery ruined her life. She found it difficult to eat. She lost her job, faced an array of medical problems and slipped into a black depression.

In a fit of rage, Wang flew back to Seoul for retribution, but she was beaten up by the hospital's security guards, she said.

Wonjin Beauty Medical Group, however, refute Wang's accusations. In an email interview with Xinhua, it said the operations had been successful and Wang's crooked mouth was the result of something she had done deliberately.

In addition, it said that Wang had fabricated the assault story as there were no security guards stationed at the hospital.

Cutting corners for beauty

There is a rising trend for young women in China to undergo cosmetic surgery.

However, unlicensed doctors, shoddy but costly operations and fraudulent intermediary services are too regular an occurrence in the booming, yet poorly regulated, medical tourist industry.

Media reported more than 20,000 cosmetic surgery institutions are operating in ROK. But data from the Korean Association of Plastic Surgeons showed that only 1,500 of them registered in the association and 2,100 plastic surgeons got license.

The "ghost doctors" who stand in for experienced surgeons and perform actual surgeries are an open secret in the industry.

Cho Soo Young, public relations director of the association, suggested customers check doctor's qualification on its website before making the decision.

Many overseas students and travel agencies moonlight as intermediaries for hospitals in Seoul, reaping as much as 50 percent of the operation's fees.

In addition, Chinese patients are often charged twice or three times the amount ROK citizens pay, said former actress Jin Weikun.

Jin, 26, reshaped her face and augmented her breasts last year to "improve her career". She was left with a plethora of medical problems.

In response, she set up the group "Fight to Win" on messaging app WeChat, which now has more than 200 Chinese members, including men, who claim to have been left disfigured after going under the knife in Seoul.

Few, however, have any supporting medical documentation, such as invoices or pre-surgery agreements, which makes it almost impossible to claim compensation. Many members of the group now struggle with depression and some have even attempted suicide, Jin said.

Societal pressure and the misconception that being beautiful is a shortcut to success are often cited by patients as the reasons they chose cosmetic surgery.

"They promised me a high-bridged nose and a lower hairline with no scars on the forehead," said Mi Yuanyuan from Ningbo, a port city in the east Chinese province of Zhejiang.

She went to a Seoul clinic called Faceline in September 2013, after watching a plastic surgery reality show.

Mi said she was given a document while she was on the operation table. "I cannot read a word of Korean and so had no idea what it said. All I knew was that I was ready for the operation. I had no time to ask questions."

The paper, as Faceline explained to Xinhua in an email interview, was the pre-surgery statement declaring that the patient understood all the potential side effects. The doctors had explained to Mi clearly and she had signed it.

After the surgery Mi suffered nose pain, hair loss and there are visible scars on her forehead, which Faceline insisted were from previous cosmetic surgery she had in China and not as serious as Mi claimed.

China, however, is not without its own surgery horror stories. The China Consumers' Association said its branches nationwide handled at least 1,400 complaints over aesthetic and cosmetic procedures last year, though many more cases are believed to go unreported. The sad truth may be that perhaps people will only take notice when the operations have fatal consequences?

Wang Bei, 24, a former contestant on the hit talent show "Super Girl", died in 2010 due to complications from anaesthesia during plastic surgery in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province. The case raised concern about the safety of plastic surgery.

Competitive edge or spiritual void?

Despite the damage, some people do not regret having gone under the knife.

"Plastic surgery is just another way to give yourself an edge in today's super-competitive society," said Jin.

"You can't blame people for turning to surgery to look good, in a society where being pretty simply trumps everything," she added.

Last week Xinhua interviewed 207 students randomly chosen from three Chinese universities in Beijing, Tianjin and Nanjing. More than 16 percent said they had "thought about reshaping their faces," while 191 interviewees thought people with good looks would get more career or education opportunities.

Nearly 60 percent of the customers at major cosmetic surgery clinics in Shanghai were college students who wanted "small improvements," said a doctor in the city.

Plastic surgery is not just the realm of women. Men account for nearly 10 percent of those student patients choosing face-lifts, the doctor said.

Zhang Yan, a researcher with the Academy of Social Sciences in the northwest province of Shaanxi, said plastic surgery should be reserved for victims of fire or other accidents.

"Young people need intelligence more than good looks to survive in society," said Zhang. "After all, a pretty face cannot fill the spiritual void."