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SCMP Reporter

AN investigation by the Sunday Morning Post has revealed that beauty parlours are coercing teenage girls into undergoing expensive, but unnecessary, surgery.

  Sunday Morning Post journalists telephoned three beauty parlours which had advertised in a women's magazine to inquire about eyelid and nose surgery.

  All three offered reporter Ada Yuen an operation that would give her ''double eyelids'' and treatments that would increase the height of the bridge of her nose ''using a special machine''. Both would be painless and needed no prior medical checks.

  ''The eye treatment is not painful and will take only 15 minutes. It uses special stitches,'' said a woman from a Kowloon beauty parlour. ''You do not need to see a doctor. But if you want surgery we can refer you to one.''   However, the woman declined to give the doctor's name.

  When Yuen asked if being under 18 was a problem, she was told it was not.

  According to the Department of Health there are no regulations governing the minimum age at which someone may ask for cosmetic surgery.

  After making an appointment at a Mongkok salon, Yuen was surprised to find it was an ordinary-looking shop, more like a hair salon.

  ''It did not look like a place where surgery went on,'' Yuen reported.

  She was met by two women who said they could perform the eye operation for $800 without a medical examination, and $1,200 for the nose treatment. When Yuen asked to see the machine that would be used on her nose, the women refused.

  ''It worked, they said, by stimulating the nasal bone with electrons. This would raise the bridge of the nose by up to 3 mm.''   The eye treatment involved placing ''special creams'' on the eyelid and ''moulding it'' into shape. ''If you like the shape, we can make it permanent,'' the women said.

  The two then brought out pictures of film stars.

  ''They showed me lots of before and after pictures,'' Yuen said. ''There were two film stars, one with a broad jaw and one with a pointed chin. They said the actresses had jaw reconstructions and that it was done through them.

  ''They also brought out invoices showing many thousands of dollars spent on operations. Then they said: 'For you to spend $2,000 on your eyes and nose is not so expensive'.''   She was then asked for a $500 down-payment. ''I was under a lot of pressure to pay the deposit, with both women speaking at the same time.

  ''I said I had to ask my boyfriend for the money as I was under 18. When I asked if I needed to have a medical check-up first, they said I did not need it.''   President of The Hong Kong Society for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, Dr Otto Au, said the techniques described were unproven. And the claim that stitching could be ''painless'' was untrue.

  ''These beauty parlours can fool you. If they do this kind of thing they are already doing surgery because they are putting stitches in. It's rubbish that it cannot hurt,'' Dr Au said.

  He was also concerned about the use of ''special creams''.

  ''It's a crime. They are using drugs that aren't licensed,'' he said. ''But in Hong Kong this kind of law is very hard to enforce - money can buy anything.'' 



'Painless' beauty for only $2,000