Advertisement
Advertisement

Nips, tucks now all part of new year beautifying

Cosmetic surgery has joined buying new clothes and fixing up the house among the favoured ways to usher in the Lunar New Year in Vietnam.

Clinics in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City report a 30 to 50 per cent increase in clients seeking nips, tucks and nose jobs in the weeks leading up to Tet, the country's most important annual holiday.

'I'm very happy with the results,' said Hoang Thi Thanh Huyen, 56, who had surgery on her nose late last year.

The new year's tradition of lam dep, or beautifying, has a long history in Vietnam. It is seen as a way to rise to the occasion of a series of special get-togethers over the several days of Tet, as well as paving the way for a year of prosperity and good fortune.

But it is only in the past few years that cosmetic surgery has joined the list of more basic methods, like buying new furniture or getting a haircut.

'With the country's economic development, people have more money, so I think it will only become more popular,' said Ms Huyen, an acupuncturist in Hanoi.

Low prices are also an attraction, drawing many Vietnamese living overseas back home for a pre-Tet touch-up. Most procedures go for less than US$250.

At a newly opened 'aesthetics institute' in Hanoi, among the most popular new looks is dubbed the 'Korean nose', referring to the actors in popular Korean soap operas. Procedures such as liposuction and breast enhancements are also on tap.

Mai Manh Tuan, the Oxford-trained owner of the new institute, said the number of similar clinics in Hanoi had grown from none to about 10 in the past few years. Added to that is an unknown number of unlicensed clinics.

A surgeon in Ho Chi Minh City, which has seen an even greater boom, said most clients are well-paid artists, entertainers and businesspeople.

As for the safety of cosmetic surgery in the developing country, surgeons insist risks are little or no greater than elsewhere - so long as clients stick to the licensed clinics.

Post