Minors should be banned from unnecessary plastic surgeries: NPC Deputy

As more and more people in China go under the knife for beauty, there is also increasing concern about the safety of these procedures, esp. the risks for minors.

A pair of big eyes, a small face, and a sharp chin. Among Chinese people, these seem to be the most popular facial features. If you weren't born blessed with a face like this, you might have considered plastic surgery.

Photos of Ma Tianxing before and after plastic surgeries on her nose and chin. [Photo: China Plus]

China's plastic surgery market took in 224.5 billion yuan last year, which is around 33.4 billion U.S. dollars. Among its nearly 20 million consumers, more than 40 percent are aged between 20 and 25, according to Soyoung, China's biggest online portal for plastic surgery.

29-year-old Ma Tianxing started having cosmetic surgeries seven years ago. She said that the surgeries can fulfill the dream of ordinary people to become beautiful.

"I have had plastic surgeries on my eyes, nose, and chin. After these surgeries, I became more confident."

But not everyone is so enthusiastic about plastic surgery.

Zhang Mingjie is a white-collar worker from Hebei Province. She believes that plastic surgery is unnecessary.

"People should accept themselves, including their appearance. Plastic surgery is a kind of operation. As long as it is an operation, it has risks."

A 20-year-old woman has plastic surgery on her nose. [Photo: IC]

Most of the worries that have been raised are regarding the safety of medical cosmetology. There seems to be a never-ending string of stories in the news about failed plastic surgeries that cause difficult-to-repair damage, or infections, and sometimes even death.

Qi Zuoliang, the president of the Plastic Surgery Hospital of Peking Union Medical College, wants to see the public become better informed about the benefits and the risks of the procedures.

"I suggest that we should use various ways to have a public discussion about plastic surgery, so that people can know where they can get reliable beauty surgery and judge for themselves whether they need surgery. Second, we should crack down on illegal beauty surgery agencies, strengthen the management of qualified institutes and hospitals, and improve the services," said Qi.

A patient who has just had eyebrow and eye liner tattoos. [Photo: China Plus]

Another aspect of the industry that is causing concern is the number of young people going in for these procedures. Statistics from Soyoung shows that people born after the year 2000 have become a booming group in China's cosmetic surgery market, accounting for nearly 19 percent of people going under the knife.

Wang Jiajuan is a deputy to the National People's Congress and a teacher from a high school in Liaoning Province. She's found that some of her students have had double-eyelid surgery, while others have had tattooed eyebrows and eye liner. Wang said these surgeries are unnecessary and can cause irreversible damage.

"Minors are still immature when it comes to appreciating the value of their body and beauty. I don't mean to say that people can't have plastic surgery,” said Wang, “after they've turned 18, and become adults with fully-formed values and they can take responsibility for themselves, they can have beauty surgeries based on a doctor's recommendation."

Wang suggests that an improvement to the Law on the Protection of Minors would be a limitation of plastic surgery. She believes that hospitals and other institutes shouldn't offer beauty surgery to minors except in cases where it's to repair a defect or repair scarring.

"The legislation is not an absolute ban, but a legislative guide that allows minors to pay more attention to their inner beauty instead of a beautiful face," said Wang.

Having worked as a teacher for more than 30 years, Wang said that the students who did well were the ones who were always kind, helped others, and studied hard. She believes that those are the things that make someone attractive – because beauty is only skin deep.