High school grads, including boys, get plastic surgery after gaokao

Many high school graduates, including boys, are getting plastic surgery after taking the gaokao, China's college entrance exam, the Beijing Morning Post reported on Tuesday.

Li Weiwei, director of the cosmetic center at Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital, said she'd had a full schedule recently. Most of her patients were high school graduates aged 17 or 18, while others were college students, according to Li. "My clients have gotten younger in recent years, and many were accompanied by their parents."

Previously, arts students constituted the majority of her visitors, but now non-arts students also come, she said.

Double eyelid surgery is the most popular among high schoolers, accounting for about 70 percent of patients, followed by nose reshaping and implant surgery, which takes up 20 to 30 percent, Li said.

In contrast, college students are more cautious about letting their face go under the knife and prefer to have micro plastic surgery, such as face-thinning injections, skin whitening and hyaluronic acid nose filler, she said.

Many boys also came for a nose job or to have their face thinned. Li said the boys liked to admire themselves in the mirror. They often came in groups and chose one as the "lab mouse". If he looked good after the treatment, the others would follow suit, she said.

During vacations, some overseas Chinese students also returned to have plastic surgery, thanks to significantly lower costs in China compared to its foreign counterparts, Li said.

While touting cosmetic treatments at qualified Chinese hospitals as being just as good as those offered by South Korean medical institutions, Li also warned the public to keep away from illegal products and unqualified treatments.