More men going under the knife
In a Confucian society where age traditionally commands respect, more and more Vietnamese are going under the knife to keep looking younger.
Cosmetic surgery centres in fast-modernising Ho Chi Minh City report that males now comprise as much as 30 per cent of their growing clientele.
'Looking younger has become a common desire of politicians and businessmen who want to exude more confidence when dealing with colleagues, or to look younger when dealing with women,' said Tran Dinh Thanh Lam, a journalist in city.
All of the standard procedures are on offer in the city's increasingly numerous cosmetic surgery clinics: nose jobs, hair implants, liposuction and botox injections, among others.
Nguyen Xuan Cuong, president of the Saigon Hospital of Cosmetic Surgery, said many patients believed a rejuvenated look would help them land a better job. They would pay more than US$1,000 for hair transplants or liposuction at his private clinic, he said.
Most of the clients are middle-aged. But Lai Cong Hiep, another Ho Chi Minh City cosmetic surgeon, said he had many male patients of about 60 years old, some of whom had undergone a series of facelifts.
