Ban plastic surgery on minors: Chinese MP

BEIJING: China’s plastic surgery industry is booming, but it’s not all pretty, especially for minors.

The country’s legislators have moved a proposal at the ongoing National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s legislature, to ban minors from getting cosmetic surgeries if they are not meant to correct defects or remove scars.

The industry is worth billions of dollars in China. One state media estimate said it pulled in 224.5 billion yuan or $33.4 billion in 2018.

SoYoung, a popular plastic surgery portal, said more than 20 million in China went under the knife last year, of which more than 40% were aged between 20 and 25 years. What has worried China’s lawmakers is that surgeries for fashion is becoming more popular among teenagers: many want big eyes, a sharp chin, and a small face.

The uglier side of the trend comprises stories of “failed plastic surgeries that cause difficultto-repair damage, or infections, and sometimes even death”, said a report in China Plus, China Radio International’s overseas English portal. “Statistics from SoYoung show that people born after the year 2000 have become a booming group in China's cosmetic surgery market, accounting for nearly 19% of people going under the knife.”

Wang Jiajuan, an NPC deputy and a high-school teacher from northeast China’s Liaoning province with 30 years of experience, noticed a trend among her students that made her worried. She found that some of her students had double-eyelid surgery while others had tattooed eyebrows and eyeliners - surgeries that are unnecessary and can cause irreversible damage. “Minors are still immature when it comes to appreciating the value of their body and beauty,” said Wang.