Skin-deep surgery's just swell

• Source: Global Times
• [13:31 June 21 2010]
• Comments

Eastward bound

The market for plastic surgery in China is growing by 20 percent annually. The surgical cosmetic procedures in this country are developing so rapidly that customers from Western nations are now flocking to cities like Shanghai for advanced yet cheaper operations. The treatment times are lesser compared to the West and post-surgical medical help is readily available.

Take hair implants for example: surgeons in foreign countries can implant no more than 500 hairs in one treatment. If the patient needs to implant 2,500 hairs, he has to undergo five operations.

However in Shanghai, with advanced machines and technology, those 2,500 hairs can be completely transplanted in one single operation, according to Yuan Yukun of the Shanghai Time Plastic Surgery Hospital.

"The surgery in Shanghai costs fewer working days and the patients can do the surgery as soon as they arrive in Shanghai while they have to make reservations several months in advance in other countries," said Yuan.

"Some western women whose breasts are drooping severely come to Shanghai to have breast reduction surgery because of the lower cost here," Jiang Shan told the Global Times.