In order to chase the stars, there are “fan circle girls” who have plastic surgery to compare the faces of celebrities; there are also minors who fall into the misunderstanding that “face value is justice” and undergo plastic surgery in order to become “net celebrities”.
Can the law stop the blind plastic surgery of minors?
Our reporter Yu Lingge
"Worker's Daily" (version 06, September 02, 2021)
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"Plastic surgery should be as early as possible" "If you can't be a schoolmaster, then you will be the school flower"... Some medical aesthetics institutions create "appearance anxiety", and the younger age of medical aesthetics is getting worse.
Under the guise of "affordable medical beauty", some unscrupulous merchants use low-cost marketing to attract young people or minors with limited financial means to "enter", and even induce beauty seekers to take loans for plastic surgery.
At present, our country's law does not prohibit the plastic surgery of minors.
Experts believe that it is necessary to regulate this in accordance with the principle of the most beneficial to minors in my country's Law on the Protection of Minors.
On August 27, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued an announcement on soliciting opinions on the "Guidelines for the Enforcement of Medical Beauty Advertising Law (Draft for Solicitation of Comments)".
The draft opinion proposes that it will focus on cracking down on the creation of "appearance anxiety" and other chaos, aiming to rectify all kinds of medical beauty advertising chaos in accordance with the law.
"Being well-dressed can someone like it, and learning well is worse than marrying well." "Plastic surgery should be done as early as possible" "If you can't be a schoolmaster, then be a school flower"... When some medical aesthetics institutions attract customers, they create "appearance anxiety" and tend to be young People and even minors export a single aesthetic and unhealthy values.
In order to chase stars, “fan circle girls” have undergone multiple plastic surgery against the faces of celebrities. There are also minors who undergo plastic surgery just to become “net celebrities” on social platforms and fall into the cognitive misunderstanding that “face value is justice”.
Recently, 15-year-old Internet celebrity girl Xiaona revealed on a variety show that she “has had plastic surgery hundreds of times and has undergone surgery on her whole body, including 8 eyes and 6 noses, costing 4 million yuan.”
Now she has become a "real Barbie", triggering discussions among netizens about plastic surgery for minors: Under the trend of plastic surgery and medical beauty consumption, minors blindly undergo plastic surgery, can the law stop it?
Post-00s' medical beauty consumption momentum is stronger than post-90s
Although cosmetic surgery addiction like Xiaona is still a case, many post-00s, including minors, have tried plastic surgery programs.
According to the "White Paper on China's Medical Beauty Industry" released by an Internet medical aesthetics platform in 2019, among Chinese medical aesthetics consumers, teenagers between the ages of 18 and 19 accounted for 15.48%. The consumption momentum of medical aesthetics after 00 is stronger than that after 90s. .
Open the social platform, all kinds of plastic surgery marketing notes and advertisements can be seen everywhere, "How do I persuade my parents to do plastic surgery", "Student Party is also suitable for micro plastic surgery"... Among them, there are many young beauty seekers appearing to discuss.
In some medical beauty apps, fancy marketing activities such as "Double Eyelid Festival" and "Slimming Festival" have emerged one after another.
In a video advertisement on a medical beauty platform, a daughter with a single eyelid wanted to do double eyelids, and had a disagreement with her father. In the end, the father responded with the word "OK", and the daughter was very happy after obtaining permission.
Some netizens believe that this is a disguised form of encouraging student groups to ask their parents to support plastic surgery.
Grasping the end of the summer vacation in late August, plastic surgery institutions ushered in the peak period of consumption of surgical items.
The reporter learned from many medical and aesthetic institutions in Beijing that many consumers in the summer are after the college entrance examination this year. The staff said that double eyelid cutting and hyaluronic acid are popular items. College life."
When the reporter asked the agency as a consumer whether or not minors can undergo plastic surgery, many agencies clarified to the reporter that they would not accept minors. If there is a need for surgery, a guardian must be present and sign a consent form before proceeding.
Wang Jiajuan, a deputy to the National People's Congress and a teacher at the No. 1 Senior High School in Liaoyang City, Liaoning Province, noticed that many students were going to cut double eyelids, write eyebrows, lip bleach, and pierce ears.
She believes that medical plastic surgery performed by minors for some physical defects such as hare lips is necessary and should be allowed.
But it is not advisable to perform blind plastic surgery just to chase stars and become good-looking.
"Affordable medical beauty" induces minors to "enter"
In recent years, as the medical aesthetics market has expanded, disputes and complaints have also increased.
Complaint data on the official website of the China Consumers Association shows that from 2015 to 2020, the number of complaints received by the National Consumers Association in the medical and aesthetic industry has increased from 483 to 7,233, and the number of complaints has increased by nearly 14 times in five years.
Among them, false propaganda and illegal medical practice are two prominent problems of medical and aesthetic institutions involved in litigation.
The reporter noticed that in the marketing strategies of many medical and aesthetic institutions, the risks of various operations are rarely mentioned.
Among them, some unscrupulous merchants use low-cost marketing methods to attract young people or minors with limited financial ability to "enter" under the guise of "affordable medical beauty", and even induce beauty seekers to take loans for plastic surgery.
In addition, appearance anxiety is also affecting young consumers.
In early 2019, 19-year-old Guizhou girl Xiaoxia died unexpectedly while undergoing rhinoplasty in a plastic surgery hospital.
In an interview, her mother said that Xiaoxia was about to look for a job, "I want to make myself more perfect when entering society"; Xiaona, an internet celebrity who has undergone hundreds of plastic surgery, said frankly that she didn't look good when she was a child, and her classmates called her " Heimei, Yamei, squinted eyes, and nose collapsed." These nicknames strengthened her determination to have plastic surgery.
Zheng Ziyin, director of the Juvenile Protection Legal Committee of the Guangzhou Lawyers Association, told a reporter from the Workers’ Daily that minors’ discrimination and judgment are immature, and their deformed aesthetics has led many minors to blindly pursue a single aesthetic, such as “double Eyelids, "high nose", "pointed chin", "white skin", "slim" and so on.
In addition, information on various social platforms is uneven. If minors lack the correct guidance of their parents or guardians, they are likely to blindly follow the trend and undergo cosmetic surgery.
The law is necessary to regulate or prohibit
The reporter found that, at present, there are no prohibitive provisions in the "Administrative Measures for Medical Beauty Services" that were implemented in 2002 for minor plastic surgery.
Among the local laws and regulations, only Article 44 of the "Provisions on the Protection of Minors in Guangzhou" implemented in 2014 clearly states: minors are not encouraged to implement medical cosmetology projects; minors do need medical cosmetology for special reasons , It must be approved by its legal guardian.
Regarding the phenomenon of minor plastic surgery, Wang Jiajuan suggested that the situation of plastic surgery should be clearly stipulated. In addition to medical plastic surgery due to congenital defects and other reasons, it is strictly forbidden to perform cosmetic surgery on minors.
"At present, our country's law does not provide prohibitive provisions on minor plastic surgery, so I think it is necessary to regulate or prohibit it." Zheng Ziyin said.
Zheng Ziyin further stated that Article 4 of my country's Law on the Protection of Minors stipulates the principle of the most beneficial to minors, and Article 6 stipulates that the protection of minors is the responsibility of the whole society.
“Therefore, whether medical institutions can perform plastic surgery for minors should also adhere to the principle of the most beneficial to minors, and protect the physical and mental health of minors.” Zheng Ziyin said, “For example, in legislation, medical institutions can be prohibited from performing surgery for minors. Medical institutions that violate the regulations need to bear legal responsibility for non-essential plastic surgery performed in order to improve their'face value'."
Article 19 of the "Administrative Measures for Medical Beauty Services" stipulates that without the consent of the guardian, no medical beauty project shall be implemented for persons with incompetence or limited capacity.
Regarding the responsibility of guardians, Zheng Ziyin said that minors’ physical development is still immature, and blindly performing cosmetic surgery poses great risks to minors’ personal safety. Guardians should fully understand the safety risks and protect minor children as much as possible. Obligations.
Zheng Ziyin also reminded that medical beauty advertisements are medical advertisements, and non-medical institutions are not allowed to publish medical advertisements.
Aesthetic medical institutions shall publish medical advertisements strictly in accordance with the law, and risk notifications shall be as detailed as possible.
Zhu Wei, deputy director of the Communication Law Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, pointed out that a lot of plastic surgery advertisements contain vulgar values, which will not only affect the values of minors, but may also guide them to put them into practice. The relevant departments need to form a joint force in supervision.