CRI听力:No Plastic Surgery for Teenagers

Media reports say China now ranks third in the world in terms of the number of plastic surgeries, behind the US and Brazil. China's industry is growing by 40 percent annually and employs over 20 million people.

According to a survey by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, more than 3.4 million plastic surgeries were carried out between 2009 and 2010 in China, generating revenues of some 300 billion yuan or about 48 billion US dollars in 2010.

With the rapid development, more medical accidents appear, also among minors. Jia Weishun, a plastic surgeon says increasingly more teenagers or middle school students are seeking cosmetic surgery.

"There are teenagers who come to us seeking image-changing operations, especially during the summer and winter vacations. Some minors have their parents with them, others do not."

Industry insiders say most public hospitals won't accept minors asking for cosmetic surgery without parental consent. However, some medical organizations do perform it on minors without parental approval.

Li Yujie has been a plastic surgeon for more than 20 years. He says children who are under the age of 18 should be kept away from plastic surgery, as they are not physically ready for appearance-changing operations.

"For minors, we don't suggest they have plastic surgery, as their bones and face shape are still changing. If teenagers alter their immature body or face shape, the result may not be what they wanted."

Media reports say that statistics from the China Consumers' Association showed that the plastic surgery industry is one of the industries that receives the most complaints.

Over the past 10 years, more than 200,000 consumers complained that their faces had been disfigured. Despite this, plastic surgery is still popular in China.

This is the first time on the Chinese mainland that a law is proposed to protect minors from plastic surgery. Yang Jianguang, a professor at Sun Yat-Sen University is the head of the team that drafts the regulation.

"Lots of teenagers are endangered by cosmetic surgery. We've seen many cases of medical accidents due to plastic surgery. That's why we want to make the regulation. We welcome all the comments from the public."

According to an online survey conducted by Chinese media, 71.5 percent of the respondents said today's social aesthetic values have led to a craze for plastic surgery.

Judging someone by their appearance is a common practice in China and elsewhere, and some people believe a pretty face can help give a person a competitive edge.

For CRI, I am Zhang Wan.