"Speaking from my personal practice, the two fastest growing groups of beauty seekers are young adults who feel they need to look better to increase their chances of finding better jobs and spouses and middle-aged women who want to look younger," Wang said. While plastic surgery has long been a woman's domain in China, she revealed that more and more young men come to her for double eyelid surgery, nose enhancement and Botox injections for slimmer faces.

According to a survey conducted by the China Youth Daily on the cause behind China's recent craze for plastic surgery, 71.5 percent of respondents believe that the primary reason is the excessive emphasis on a person's outer beauty in today's popular culture, 49.4 percent attributed it to the popular belief that one can change his or her fate by altering personal appearance, and 38.5 percent believe the culprit is the "too alluring advertisements."

Wang said it is not unusual for a teenager to produce a pop star's photo in her office and require looking exactly like the star after the operation. "I have to tell them that plastic surgery can only improve the appearance of one's existing features, it cannot turn one face into a different one," she said.

Risky operations

CREASE CRAZY: A woman lies on an operating table to receive double eyelid surgery, which is intended to make eyes appear larger by adding a crease in the eyelid, in a hospital in Beijing (YANG GUANG)

While some people manage to fulfill their dreams after plastic surgery, some beauty seekers find themselves having to live with results which can be a long way from their fantasies. China's plastic surgery market remains under-regulated and many patients make hasty decisions or choose risky options, which can be life-threatening.

The tragic death of Wang Bei, a 24-year-old pop singer, as a result of a respiratory failure after a "jawbone-grinding surgery" in November 2010, focused the whole country's attention on the dangers of plastic surgery.

DYING TO BE PRETTIER: Wang Bei, a popular contestant on the smash television hit Super Girl, died of respiratory failure after a "jawbone-grinding surgery" in November 2010 (IC)

Wang allegedly received the operation for a slimmer face. While she was having the surgery that would prove fatal, instead of waiting anxiously for her daughter outside the operating theater, her mother was undergoing the same procedure in another room at the same facility.

Without an autopsy available, an investigation by the Bureau of Health in Wuhan, capital of central Hubei Province, where the incident occurred, concluded that the jaw surgery caused bleeding, which blocked Wang's windpipe and caused her to suffocate.

Netizens expressed concern and questioned why a girl as pretty as Wang would feel the need for plastic surgery. Her beauty had already made her a popular contestant on the smash television hit Super Girl, China's version of American Idol.

"I hope the tragedy will raise people's awareness of the slack supervision of the plastic surgery industry," said an online post.

After Wang's death, Zhang Huabin, a professor of plastic surgery at Guangdong Medical College, told Xinhua News Agency that as demand for plastic surgery soars in China, some doctors not trained in the field are carrying out plastic surgery, which is risky and irresponsible.

Li Qingfeng, head of the Plastic Surgery Department of Shanghai No.9 Hospital, said that the aspiring pop singer was killed by technical negligence as much as by an ill-regulated plastic surgery industry. He said that several other women also fell victim to deadly surgical errors in 2010, although they did not make the headlines like Wang.

At a conference in November 2010, Vice Minister of Health Ma Xiaowei said that during a random inspection on clinics and hospitals offering cosmetic or plastic surgery in a provincial capital city, fewer than half met national standards. He admitted that the main problems were unqualified employees and subpar equipment and materials.

Dr. Li said that the fundamental cause behind the surge of plastic surgery-related accidents in China is that medical schools and hospitals cannot produce qualified plastic surgeons as fast as the booming market demands. This shortage means that for many unscrupulous doctors, the plastic surgery has become simply a means to make money.

"In other countries, the study and training to become a plastic surgeon usually take seven to eight years while in China, some surgeons of other specialties receive just a few months' training before they start to cut into people's faces," Li said.

Wang, the Beijing plastic surgeon, said that although the incisions made during plastic surgeries are smaller than those in most other surgeries, they require a high degree of care and precision. "Even the smallest mistakes during plastic surgery, although not fatal, could lead to disfigurement and thus lifelong psychological pain," she warned.

According to Wang, there are a lot of patients who cannot fully close their eyes after eyelid surgeries, during which too much of their skin was cut. The necessary corrective surgeries are more complicated and expensive while the results are often less than satisfactory. "While it is easy to paint a beauty on a blank piece of cloth, it is not so easy when the painting has already been messed up," she said.