Plastic Surgery in Asia

With the invention of plastic surgery, wealth has increasingly become correlated with beauty. In addition to buying more clothes, better-looking cars, and more “hip” hairdos, people could now change the shape of their chin, nose, and eyes. During the recent years, Asia has developed enormous market and demand for plastic surgery. And as in any capitalistic venture, a huge black market has taken root: in Indonesia, there are 400 illicit procedures performed each week, and injectable silicone has replaced the use of medical-grade silicone, specifically administered by physicians. Unfortunately, many victims of these procedures cannot seek recompense for the mistreatment; their unfortunate fate is the result of their own “bargain-hunting instinct” and agreeing to using practitioners without adequate certificate. In fact, most lawyers in Asia refuse to help these victims because they believe that such lawsuits would most likely fail. Then isn’t it about time that government steps in to protect their citizens? In many countries, plastic surgery is a large source of income: Korea even has travel agencies offering “plastic surgery tours” and in the most famous plastic-surgery hospital in Thailand, foreigners constitute one-third all of the patients. What can we do about those horror stories about surgeries gone wrong, silicone injections that ruin careers when both the government and the justice department refuses to protect these victims?

Source: www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,501020805-332097,00.html