VietNamNet Bridge – Women wishing to improve their beauty to welcome in the New Year has led to a cosmetic surgery boom in big cities across the country.

Illustrative image -- File photo

However, experts have warned that illegal, low quality and unauthorised services provided by unqualified doctors are also on the rise and these services pose a health risk.

In big cities like HCM City, Ha Noi and surrounding urban areas, plastic surgery is becoming popular among women between the ages of 20 and 45.

Breast enlargements, face lifts, nose lifts, and liposuction are the most popular surgeries.

In HCM City alone, around 10,000 breast surgeries and more than 15,000 nose operations were annually conducted at seven authorised plastic surgery hospitals and hundreds of centres, a report from the HCM City Health Department said last week.

The report revealed most of the operations were successful but the number of accidents was also high, even reaching hundreds this year.

Dr Nguyen Phan Tu Dzung, the director of a Korean cosmetic surgery hospital branch in HCM City, said many clinics providing cosmetic surgery in the city were exploiting the fame of some Korean surgeons to advertise their services.

Operations were actually performed by Vietnamese doctors some of whom did not possess a surgery licence, according to Dzung.

Dzung last week told Tien Phong (The Vanguard) newspaper that those clinics, mostly illegally operating, had even used low quality materials in their operations.

"There are less than 10 licensed Korean surgery doctors in Viet Nam, so it was impossible and unacceptable that hundreds of clinics advertise services provided by Korean doctors," said Dr Dzung.

Dr Trinh Quoc Khanh from the plastic surgery faculty at Trung Vuong Hospital, warned clients never to accept any mobile plastic surgery and advised women to come to hospitals instead.

Khanh said qualified plastic surgeons never ran mobile clinics and they only worked in hospitals or authorised surgery centres.

Despite warnings from health experts that plastic surgery is not without its risks, women rushed to unauthorised clinics as prices there were very cheap, just about one third of the prices in hospitals.

The death of a woman at a cosmetic surgery clinic in Ha Noi two years ago didn't seem to publicise the dangers of plastic surgery in the capital city, experts said.

Thirty seven year-old Le Thi Thanh Huyen died after undergoing abdominal liposuction and breast enhancement surgery at Cat Tuong beauty salon. The doctor, Nguyen Manh Tuong, allegedly dumped her body into a local river to cover up her death.

A plastic surgery centre in Cau Giay District, Ha Noi recently received more than 100 clients daily.

One of the workers at the centre, who wished to remain anonymous, said many clients came there after being introduced by their friends or seeing a newspaper ad.

He said they never asked about the centre's operation license or surgeons' qualifications.

Fortunately, the worker said, that centre had adequate legal documents as it was authorised by the city's health department.

Doctors there were all qualified, he added.

VNS