Written: 2010
For COM221 Trend story
More youths going under the knife for beauty
For a prettier face, 23-year-old Pearlyn Koh was willing to fork out a few thousand dollars and endure the pain of a surgeon’s knife. She had gotten a nose job earlier this year.
The drama queen of a self-recorded online webcast on clicknetwork.tv confessed that vanity was her sole motivation. “I felt that if I could look prettier, then why not (go for plastic surgery)?” Ms Koh said. She spent about $3,000 to sharpen the tip of her nose in Taiwan earlier this February.
Ms Koh’s decision to go for plastic surgery drew mixed responses from her family and friends. “My mum was convincing me not to go at first, but my friends were telling me to go for it, because they knew beforehand that it’s what I’ve wanted to do,” the unemployed Ngee Ann Polytechnic graduate said.
She is one of many young people in Singapore who are opting to go for surgery to enhance their facial features. Most of these youths work on their noses and eyes, which are considered two of the most popular areas for plastic surgery.
The main cause for this phenomenon is the increasing vanity and affluence of Singaporeans, said Dr Georgia Lee, a doctor who provides aesthetic cosmetic treatment in Singapore. “Increasingly among young people, there’s this quest for a perfect face,” she said.
Another reason behind the increase in youths undergoing cosmetic enhancement is their increasing exposure to the media. “There’s more understanding, when people are more exposed to these treatments through the internet, TV and media,” said Dr Chua Jun Jin, a plastic surgeon at Mount Elizabeth Hospital.
He revealed that about 20 percent of his patients are below the age of 25. This has doubled from ten years ago.
Dr Chua added: “There’s also more acceptance (of plastic surgery) now, as there are many options for safe and effective treatments.”
For undergraduate Si Ling (not her real name), going for plastic surgery raised her self-esteem. She was born with pointy ears that stuck out on the side of her head. “I would try to hide it, but the boys would still pick on me. I got paranoid about it,” she said.
Insecurity about her ears drove the 20-year-old to undergo corrective surgery in Malaysia after her GCE ‘O’ Level examinations to make the defect less obvious. Now her ears no longer stick out unnaturally. “I am definitely more confident now,” she said.
In addition to plastic surgery, non-invasive techniques such as Botox treatment and facial fillers are also getting popular in Singapore.
Dr Lee, who specialises in such treatments, said: “These (non-invasive treatments) are becoming prominent here, but they still cannot replace surgery.” She explained that there are some procedures that definitely require surgery, such as creating a double eyelid.
She also revealed that more young people are approaching her for acne and facial scarring treatment. The number of patients below the age of 30 has doubled from two years ago.
According to anthropologist Dr Vivienne Wee, the increasing self-consciousness about their looks among youths today boils down to the problem of gender inequality.
She said that as it is still mostly women who go for plastic surgery, it is a gender issue. “This shows that there’s still gender hierarchy in Singapore, and young women feel that there’s a need to conform to a gender stereotype – as an object of desire,” she said. “Women’s lack of self esteem is the main issue here.”
Dr Wee compared Singapore to Japan and Korea, two counties where gender inequality is more pronounced and where the trend of plastic surgery is more prominent as well. “In countries like Scandinavia and Iceland, where there is more gender equality, (plastic surgery) is less of a phenomenon,” she said.
Despite increasing social pressure to possess attractive facial features, not all young people feel that they need to conform to it. Undergraduate Deborah Yue, 20, said: “For beautification purposes, I don’t see the need (to go for plastic surgery). Why do I need to be someone I’m not?”
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