People say “beauty is only skin deep,” but the numbers are stunning: 6 out 10 Pinays wish to go under the knife to achieve an ideal image. The Filipino Times lists down the top common invasive procedures that women are willing to go through for vanity’s sake.
Looking good among Pinays has become too closely bound to the concepts of happiness and success, as they embark on an appearance obsessed world.
The old adage in local parlance that says “Hindi lahat, ibinigigay sa’yo” no longer applies to many. The new trend is—if all else fails in the pursuit of beauty—there’s Belo or Calayan. In a straw poll conducted by The Filipino Times, 6 out 10 Pinays admit they would want to undergo surgery to achieve their ideal beauty.
A whopping 62% of Pinays want to have a nose job or rhinoplasty. The remaining percentage shares these goals: to undergo body-slimming procedures, glutathione injection, or acne treatments.
Here’s the plethora of modern unconventional habits Pinays say they want to undertake, given financial capacity:
RHINOPLASTY
Can you guess which cosmetic surgery procedure is most commonly performed at the Belo Medical Group? If you answered nose jobs, congratulations you have a high beauty IQ! The recent Belo Medical Group statistics reveal that 70% of rhinoplasty procedures are performed on women. 30% are done on men.
As early as the age of 16, the youth go under the knife, Belo group said. Maria Claire Godinez, a freelance model said: “When I finished college and started working, I saved money and had rhinoplasty.” She added: “I had to prepare them and myself emotionally, because there’s no turning back.” Experts say the level of pain of rhinoplasty is 9 out of 10. In the UAE, it is offered at around Dh 30, 000.
GLUTATHIONE INJECTION
There are those who are not just content with the usual skin-whitening lotion or papaya soaps. One such is Pinay Kimberly Uy, whose dreams of having fair complexion led her to inject glutathione. She said: “I noticed that I have glowing skin and I don’t look stressed.” Arash Arabghani, director and marketing manager of New HealthCall clinic in JLT, Dubai, revealed that Pinoys in the UAE are the top clients of their Glutathione injectable services. He shared: “50 percent of our customers are Filipinos.”
One injection in their clinic cost Dh 390, while the home service costs Dh 590. He revealed that many Pinays opt to see the results right away, causing them to purchase glutathione through the black market which is prohibited in the UAE. The level of pain of this procedure is rated 5 out 10, as per experts
HAIR REMOVAL/ WAXING
Iza Tolentino-Nasic, administrative officer shared with The Filipino Times that: “I always have my upper lip and eye brows thread scheduled every other week,” she said, adding that: “But even if I do it regularly, I still get teary-eyed and it feels like I am having labor every time I do Brazilian waxing.” With Filipinas obsessed about hair removal services, beauty salons, like Trace of Joy create various promotions to attract beauty addicts.
This month, its owner, Tracy, said they came up adding threading, as it is in-demand with select services for Dh 99. Sure waxing and threading is never going to be a pleasurable experience – hair is being ripped from the roots after all. This beauty regimen is definitely recommended to women with higher pain tolerance. Level of pain: 7 out of 10
MICRO-NEEDLING TREATMENT
Getting pricked on your face is painful – so painful that even grown men cry. But wait till you hear some women endure the pain of the nervewrecking derma rollers or microneedling treatment. Derma roller resembles small paint rollers you would use to get into tight spots.
They have a round, rotating cylinder with at least 200 tiny needles protruding from it, and a handle for moving it around your face.
The procedure is indeed painful and sometimes includes face bleeding, but there are clinics which offer lesser pain procedure, according to Olimpia Carmen, skin care specialist at Wellbeing Clinic in Dubai. “The reasonable science behind it is it helps reduce the appearance of scars, address wrinkles or help antiaging ingredients absorb better into skin,” she told The Filipino Times. One dermarollers session costs Dh 1500 for the full face. The level of pain of this procedure is 6.5 out of 10.
PERMANENT EYELINER
Permanent make-up is warmly patronized, no matter how tiis-ganda this procedure is. It is considered micropigmentation, similar to tattoos. It involves using a needle to place pigmented granules beneath the upper layers of the skin.
Marisan Rodriguez, account executive shared: “I always wear liquid eyeliner, it makes my eyes look bigger, making me look more awake.” She said that when she heard about permanent eyeliner, she didn’t hesitate having her eyelids inked, too. She said: “I have this since last year. It’s saving me time when I wear make-up!” Permanent eyeliner costs around Dh 3600. It usually lasts two to three years. Level of pain is 8.5 out of 10.
HIGH HEELS
Some women are not really comfortable wearing high heels, but to complete “the look”, they have to! Although there are convenient fashion, we have to admit that high heels are more associated as the sophisticated look, especially that not all are gifted with height.
Most women would like to do this item rather occasionally. Parul Shah, an Indian- Filipino, who won the Miss Grand International 2013 title, said beauty queens are extremely admired for their ability to walk as if they are floating on thin air.
And it had always been an unwritten rule for them to ramp with their killer heels. “People perceive beauty queens to be tall and skinny, having flawless skin, beautiful hair and a perfect smile ,but what people don’t understand is what we have to go through to achieve that,” she said
SCLEROTHERAPY
Many women suffer from spider and varicose veins –those stubborn mountainous blue lines that wend their way down the sides of the legs. The procedure undergone by most women to address this is called sclerotheraphy. It involves the injection of a solution (generally a salt solution) directly into the vein.
The solution irritates the lining of the blood vessel, causing it to swell and stick together, and the blood to clot. “When I had sclerotherapy, I felt that my legs were aching and feel heavy as soon as I got up the next morning. I have been wearing support knee highs.
The pain was like 50 times more than a bee sting. I haven’t felt that way before,” said Fatima Villacruz. Sclerotherapy costs some Dh 875 and lasts around 20 minutes per session. It’s level of pain is 8 out 10. CORSET The paradox of conformity in the new wave of surgical procedures is that women do not use the medical technology to underscore their uniqueness or eccentricity, rather they all let the one and the same “Baywatch” standard determine their looks.
Call them crazy but some women would actually endure all sorts of pain to get their desired body shape. Take it from Trina Juan, a financial adviser, who said that even if it feels like her entire body was being squeezed by the corset, it doesn’t matter; she still continues to wear it. She said it is very effective for her, explaining that it limits her capacity to eat because she feels like throwing up once she’s full.
