Dozens of British clinics are cashing in on “ ethnicity surgery ” where doctors often use painful procedures to make patients look more Western. Some UK centres offer re-shaping work to plump up flat Asian noses, slim wide jaws and give Chinese and Indonesian people eyelid creases. Other clinics offer full body skin whitening, which could be used to lighten black skin tones. Some businesses do not even bother to hide the fact that they want to make eastern-born patients look more English or American. Others imply Asian women should to strive to have a ­perfectly oval face. One of the more popular, and more frequently advertised, treatments is Asian ­blepharoplasty – the surgical addition of an eyelid crease. One website says: “Asians are born with eyelids that do not have a crease, but doctors can surgically create this crease and give a patient a double eyelid. "This makes your eyes look larger, more open and more attractive.” Read more:Air steward looks like Barbie’s Ken after spending £305,000 on 42 plastic surgery ops Some plastic surgeons claim that many of the procedures are unethical but said little could be done without ­government regulations. Clinics that offer non-invasive surgical treatments like fillers and botox , which can be used to change the shape of facial features, are almost completely unregulated, leading to gaps in the standard of treatment. They do not need to be registered with the health regulator, the Care Quality Commission. The Centre for Advanced Facial Cosmetic and Plastic Surgery in London carries out many operations to add an eyelid crease. Its website also talks about “ethnic rhinoplasty”, saying it treats people of African, Afro-Caribbean, South East Asian and Middle Eastern descent. The website claims the clinic can refine “bulbous” Asian noses and reduce nostril size. It adds: “Asian noses are anatomically different to Caucasian noses and required different surgical techniques to achieve a more natural appearance. "Asian noses are often characterised by a relatively low nasal bridge which makes the nose appear relatively small and thicker skin which can result in the tip of the nose being bulbous.” Read more:Transgender woman dies after undergoing illegal backstreet bum implant surgery At the London Cosmetic Clinic in Knightsbridge they use dermal fillers to build up small noses and reduce the hooks on others. The before and after pictures all show Asian or Malaysian people. The website says the procedure, which starts at £550, uses fillers and Hyaluronic acid to boost flat, wide noses. At the Aestha clinic in London’s Wimpole Street, Asian patients are told that beauty means being “perfectly pale” and with a “flawless face oval.” The website adds: “We recognise that Asians have different desires from aesthetic treatments. "Being beautiful is hard work – perfectly pale and glowing skin, flawless face oval, defined nose and chin and tri-dimensional face profile. All this can be achieved with a touch of our experts!” Treatments include oval face contouring, “skin-lightening and brightening injections” and “eye opening with cosmetic injectables and dermal fillers”. Some clinics also offer full body whitening for people who feel their skin tone is too dark. At Bianca Estelle Aesthetics in London, they offer Meso-infusion treatments injected via the muscles to lighten skin – claiming the trend is on the increase thanks to pop stars Rihanna and Beyonce. Its website says: “Skin lightening is a trend which is on the increase. “Spearheaded by the ­aggressive forces of airbrushed advertising, the desire for a ­cosmetically lightened ­complexion finds appeal across the globe. “This is a safe method of skin lightening that provides even and natural looking results over the whole body.” The clinic told one of our investigators that the treatments would not only lighten the skin but also improve health and energy. Auction site eBay also offers skin whitening treatments. One £9.99 product from Bolton, Lancs, shows before and after pictures of a woman with black skin who is then much lighter. The product also promises to give a “clean, brighter, more evenly toned complexion”. There is a sinister suggestion behind much of this advertising that whiter skin is somehow better or more desirable. There are medical conditions that can cause an increase in skin pigmentation which, if undiagnosed, can be very serious. Doctors can prescribe creams to help lighten these areas in a controlled manner. But you should be very wary of buying unregulated products online with unknown ingredients and unsuitable concentrations. Ash Mosahebi, a member of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS), said “Morally, this is a difficult question. All cosmetic procedures are done to improve a feature that the person doesn’t like. "However, if that leans towards changing someone’s ethnicity that is blurring the boundaries a bit. “If an Asian patient comes to me, I will advise them to improve things but still keep their ethnicity intact. "It just looks odd to have a western nose or a western eye in an Asian face. “If someone told me outright they hated their ethnicity, I would not perform surgery on them. But I’m sure some people would. “An ethical plastic surgeon is there to improve a feature, not obliterate it. "If someone comes and says they want to look Scandinavian instead of like an Asian, that’s not the way it should be. That’s psychotherapy. “Skin whitening is not an ethical thing to do. The sad thing is, if someone will pay for it, someone is probably offering it.”
A number of clinics in the UK are reportedly offering “ethnicity surgery” to make patients from Asia, Africa and the Middle East look more Western. Some plastic surgeons claim a number of some of the procedures are unethical but little can be done to address the situation without regulatory intervention, because with many non-invasive treatments such as fillers and Bbotox are being almost completely unregulated. The NHS is currently under pressure over its treatment of cosmetic surgery after it emerged that one patient had been denied an operation on her face due to fears she would not have enough money for it. A range of treatments are mentioned in the linked article from blepharoplasty to surgically add an eyelid crease and skin whitening to jaw and nose reshaping. Dermal fillers and hHyaluronic acid such as Perfectha and Sculptra are used in nose reshaping procedures.