The ugly side of beauty salons

How plastic surgery imposters and crooks have thrived in Shanghai

July and August have become the period when students on summer vacation looking for a facial or body renovations boost the numbers of people seeking cosmetic surgery. This year, in July and August, students seeking plastic surgery might have to go further afield. City authorities have launched a major crackdown on illegal cosmetic surgery clinics and practices.

Although the Ministry of Health introduced regulations governing cosmetic surgery in 2002 and cosmetic surgery clinics have to be properly licensed and their procedures approved and registered, illegitimate clinics and operators are burgeoning in the city.

According to the Shanghai Municipal Health Inspection Institute, alongside the city's 197 licensed cosmetic surgery institutions (there are 100 general hospitals, 14 specified cosmetic surgery hospitals, and specified outpatient departments and clinics), illegal cosmetic surgery is growing.

Many illegal procedures are being done at non-medical premises like beauty salons and spas. In 2013, the health inspection institute raided 591 beauty parlors and found 54 conducting illegal procedures.

The income confiscated from these was worth more than 240,000 yuan ($38,670) and the institute inspectors confiscated more than 12.5 boxes of medicines and drugs alongside 681 pieces of medical equipment. The operators of these illegal clinics were fined a total of 234,800 yuan.

Looking legal

Many of these premises offer cosmetic procedures in so-called beauty treatments to make them seem legal. This can appeal to customers who are uncertain about surgery and medical procedures - many beauty parlors advertise in newspapers and magazines claiming to be able to carry out eyelid operations without surgery.

Sun Baoshan is the chief surgeon and professor from the cosmetic surgery department of the Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital and he sees the end results of botched operations. He said the illegal clinics were taking advantage of uncertain definitions of beauty treatments and cosmetic surgery. An easy way to define surgery, he suggested, was when instruments of any nature cut into the skin.

"This is why Botox and restylane injections are cosmetic surgery. Yet, many people have no idea and think it is perfectly appropriate to have this done in beauty parlors. In fact, most of the people in Shanghai receiving Botox and restylane injections are not having this done in proper medical institutions."

It's not just beauty salons that are practicing illegally. From January to May, the authority's inspectors found another six unlicensed businesses, some of them obviously operated by fraudsters. Cao Xiaohong is the head of the Shanghai Municipal Health Inspection Institute's medical institution supervision department and she said some unlicensed businesses rented apartments or even used hotels for their cosmetic surgery.

"With the advances in communication technology, these people advertise on microblogs and instant messaging apps with fake 'before and after' photos, and promise door-to-door service," she said.

In one recent case, two licensed cosmetic surgery practitioners teamed up with two unemployed men to perform face-lifts. According to Liu Hong, the head of the investigation team, they had treated more than 300 people before some who were unhappy with their results, complained to the authorities. The practitioners were struck off and the two unemployed helpers lost the revenue earned from the venture and were also fined.

Very risky

"In this case the operators were licensed practitioners who wanted to make extra money, but there are many illegal operators in the city who are not licensed at all. Even with relatively simple injections, people without intensive professional training can be very risky," Sun pointed out.

The most popular procedures offered by unlicensed operators include rhinoplasty, eye enlargements, Botox and restylane injections.

"At the cosmetic surgery department at the Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, about 20 percent of the patients we see everyday have been disfigured by beauty salons and fraudsters and come to us for a fix," said Sun.

One of the victims was a woman from Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province. She saw an advertisement for an "expert" at a Shanghai beauty parlor and paid about 200,000 yuan for him to perform a breast enlargement procedure with injections at her home. However shortly after the procedure her breasts became infected.

Sun said that another problem beside the unprofessional approach of these operators was that some used fake chemical products. "Even at major fairs, and cosmetic surgery exhibitions and conferences, there are fake cosmetic surgery products on sale. The intended customers are mainly illegal cosmetic surgery operators and sometimes private hospitals," Sun said.

Other operators obtain imported genuine products and prescriptions but then grossly inflate the prices for the customers. Sun said a bottle of restylane usually costs $100 in the US or $120 in Europe, and one treatment at a city public hospital will cost a patient about 4,000 yuan. When the Global Times asked several established leading beauty salons what the price for a treatment would be some were asking for more than 10,000 yuan.