Linda Zhang flew all the way from Southwest China's Sichuan Province to Shanghai last month and spent about 26,000 yuan (US$3,136) for plastic surgery on her jaw.

"I had planned to go to South Korea -- where most movie stars are said to be artificial creations -- but the high medical costs and the unfamiliar environment held me back," said Zhang who was not happy with her square face.

She realized her South Korean beauty dream in Shanghai's Ren'ai Hospital, the local branch of a national private hospital which has South Korean surgeons on its staff. Under an agreement with the hospital, three South Korean surgeons fly to Shanghai once a month to operate on Chinese customers. The surgeons include Kim Dong Il, the Chief Professor at Pusan Paik Hospital and some of his former students.

According to the Ren'ai Hospital, the South Korean doctors are in great demand by patients from all over the country and the hospital fields more than 100 inquiries about the medical service every day.

However, medical experts said that the trend towards South Korean-style plastic surgery, although a very successful business operation, has been over-played up by the media and could mislead patients who were trying to make a decision about the surgery.

Profit Drive

Besides the South Korean doctors in Shanghai, Japanese doctors have been welcomed in South China's city of Shenzhen and Russian doctors are storming the market in North China.

"Foreign doctors have become the most attractive element for customers, but in fact the medical techniques of Chinese plastic surgery are at least as good as South Korea's," said Li Qingfeng, professor of the Plastic Surgery Department of Shanghai No.9 People's Hospital, the most renowned hospital for plastic surgery in the city.

Cutting part of the cheeks or mandibular (jaw) bones were minor and simple plastic surgery procedures and a Chinese doctor, Zhang Disheng, had been performing much more complicated and difficult plastic surgery to reform facial bones on actresses in 1977, according to Li.

Apart from the media hype, the trend towards plastic surgery, seems to be part of an unavoidable process associated with China's rapid economic development.

In the Shanghai No.9 People's Hospital, about 20,000 plastic surgery operations are being performed every year and doctors said the waiting lists were full.

"The huge potential market for plastic surgery and the big profits to be made are the real reasons why various cities and public and private hospitals are eager to make sure they get their share of the big cake," said Shen Zunli, director of the Plastic Surgery Department in the Shanghai People's No.1 Hospital.

Professor Kim Dong Il said: "As the Chinese economy keeps up its rapid growth, more and more people will be financially able to seek plastic surgery and my China trip is just a beginning."

In fact, he is anxious to open his own plastic surgery hospitals in Shanghai and Beijing in the near future.

Problems

The recent rush to plastic surgery seems to some experts to be almost out of control and they are calling on the government to more closely regulate the cosmetic surgery industry. More regulation would also protect the rights of patients as well as better control the chaotic market.

"The most difficult thing for me is insufficient communication with patients, nurses and other doctors because I can't speak Chinese," said Jung Jae Hak, another South Korean doctor.

However, better communication between patients and doctors is an essential part of the surgery because doctors have to devise the best surgical plan for patients according to their social environment, personality, physical condition, job and other factors.

"Some patients have mental problems, so it's impossible to do surgery without total language communication," said Li.

Chinese experts also point out that "beauty seekers" can't simply follow the South Korean idea of beauty because of differing cultures, economic and other factors between the two countries.

South Korean TV programs have become popular in China in recent years. Influenced by the appearance of South Korean movie stars -- even though their appearance is probably the result of plastic surgery -- some Chinese still want to change their faces so as to look like the stars.

"Since aesthetic concepts vary according to region, time and society, simply copying foreign movie stars is not a reasonable choice for patients," said Li.

(Shanghai Star September 4, 2003)