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Popular Chinese film actress Gao Liu recently
posted photos of her damaged nose on social media, as a warning
about the possible dangers of plastic surgery done wrong.
Liu, a young singer and actress who has starred in multiple
films and TV programs and was considered an up-and-coming star
in China, had gone off the radar in recent months, which led
many to speculate about her well-being. Earlier this month, the
actress took to her Weibo account to explain that her unexpected
absence had been caused by a botched nose job which had resulted
in part of her nose tissue actually dying and falling off. Gao
Liu also shared photos of her “plastic surgery nightmare“, which
sparked an online debate about cosmetic surgery, which has
become very popular in China in recent years.
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“The entire procedure lasted four hours. I thought that in these four
hours, I would be made more beautiful,” Gao Liu told her social media
followers. “I didn’t expect these four hours to be the beginning of a
nightmare.”
The actress said that she turned to plastic surgery thinking that it
would help boost her career. A friend introduced her to a plastic
surgeon back in October of last year, and after visiting a clinic in the
city of Guangzhou, she was advised to get “a slight trim”.
Gao Liu claims that, before agreeing to go ahead with the nose surgery,
she was told that she would be able to go back to work in a matter of
months, only the reality turned out to be much different. After the
four-hour procedure, her nose felt tingly and irritated, and repeatedly
became infected, until necrosis set in.
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“The skin on the tip of my nose… became darker and darker, and my nose
became necrotic,” Liu said, adding that she needed two months of
hospitalization, and lost around 400,000 yuan ($62,000) in contract
work. Worse still, the damage to her nose was so extensive that she
won’t be able to undergo reconstructive surgery for at least a year,
until the tissue heals completely.
Following Gao Liu’s revelations, Chinese news website The Paper started
an investigation, and learned that the clinic that operated on the
actress had received five administrative penalties between March and
October 2020, although the reasons were unclear.
This is not a unique situation apparently, as official data shows that
in 2019 “the number of unqualified plastic surgery clinics exceeded
60,000, six times that of regular clinics.” That number is believed to
be even higher now.
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