Life after cosmetic surgery(2)

"Whether I'm at work or hanging out with my friends, I am now more open," Zhang said. "When there are networking parties organized by my company, I will definitely be there. Previously, I avoided them. And I have a lot of pursuers, which makes my boyfriend nervous, so he has been nicer to me because he fears I will be taken away from him."

Zhang now is preparing to attend her company's annual end-of-the-year party.

"I ordered a rather sexy evening suit, so I can show off my beauty," Zhang said. "By the end of December, my face will be more natural."

Complications and risks

Not every aspect of Zhang's newfound features have brought her joy. Complications and side effects have already started to surface, including stiffness in the face, she said. Zhang has also discovered that her left eye is a little wider than her right one, and she said she plans to undergo another surgical procedure to fix it.

Liang Zhenxin, a scar specialist at Beijing Huake Integrate Medicine Hospital, said he has seen many cases of cosmetic surgery complications. "The most common complications are bacterial infections, bruising, scars, facial numbness caused by a nerve injury, and baldness," he said.

Even if the face appears to look good after the procedure, the construct of the face will change with time and natural aging, revealing signs of the artificial amendments, Liang said.

"I was a little scared when I searched for information on the Internet and saw pictures of movie stars who have complications," Zhang said.

Zhang said she also fears surgery addiction.

Cui Yuxin, a psychologist, said in a Science and Technology Daily report published in 2012 that cosmetic surgery addiction is actually a manifestation of an obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Cui said there are several reasons people have these addictions, including the possibility that they dislike themselves and attribute their difficulties in life to their appearance. With these patients, the accumulated anxiety about the surgery may be conquered by the satisfaction brought on by a successful surgery, thus intensifying the desire to get more surgeries, he said.

"Sometimes my parents call me crazy, and I think they are kind of right," Zhang said. "Now, I can not stop looking at my face in the mirror every day and finding flaws, and I think about what kind of plastic surgery or injection can repair them."

Zhang said she plans to get another hyaluronic acid injection in January 2015. Last year, she spent more than 40,000 yuan ($6,458.38) on the injection, and she said, she must do it again this year to keep her "nice face shape." But as an office worker at a small foreign trade company, she is running out of savings.

"One of my biggest concerns is that doing surgery is expensive. It's almost like burning money," she said. "I have to work overtime to save enough money for my plastic surgery, but even if I run out of money someday, I would still get the necessary surgeries. I'd just borrow money."

Losing face

"Five years ago, I wanted to completely wipe out my history," said Rose Zhen, a 32-year-old professional showgirl working as a freelancer in Beijing. She said that after getting cosmetic surgery, she has been proud of her beautiful face and good figure, and has had a better life.

"No one knows that I was not like this before cosmetic surgery, including my husband," Zhen said. "I used to be fat and ugly, but after a trip to South Korea, I changed, and so has my life. That's how I became a professional showgirl and successfully married a handsome guy."

Zhen had a nose job, double eyelid surgery, a hyaluronic acid injection, and got breast implants and liposuction.

"I changed my photos on my identification card and visa, and deleted my pre-surgery photos everywhere before I came to Beijing from my hometown of Shenzhen," Zhen said. "My husband is a model, and he is really handsome. Fortunately, our son is beautiful too and looks like him, or I would simply not know how to explain the appearance of our child."

Zhen said the reason she doesn't dare tell any of her friends about her surgeries is because she thinks there is a low social acceptance of aesthetic plastic surgery in China.

"It's at least much lower than in South Korea," Zhen said.

Zhang, on the other hand, didn't hide her cosmetic alterations from her parents, but she said she faced the consequences of doing so, which included heated arguments about the subject.

"My mother cried when she learned I 'got cut' so many times in the face, and she said she almost could not recognize me," Zhang said. "What makes me mad is they thought I was unfilial because I changed my face without their permission."

Although there are many obstacles and risks on their path to beauty, both Zhang and Zhen said they would spare no efforts to keep their ideal beauty as long as they could.

"A beautiful face is more effective than a resume," Zhang said. "I was told this by my doctor, who said it was one of Aristotle's famous sayings."