Monday 7 June 2010

News Article: The Ugly Side of Beauty Parlour

As a man, I honestly don't mind seeing more pretty ladies on the street. As the lady herself, I suppose being more beautiful gives her more confidence. Sound like a win-win, the end result is that Hong Kong will become a prettier place to live.
Botox Injection

Then what is the problem when there isn't a problem?

I still remember my dearest friend John's concern he told me many years ago. He said that he wanted to marry a girl who is extremely beautiful, because only a pretty girl carries a "pretty gene" and thus the offspring of him and his beautiful wife will surely be gorgeous.

Charles Darwin
Image from Jacob's Weblog

Reminds me of Charles Darwin's evolutionary theory on natural selection and sexual selection. Anyway, I suppose my friend John will have big trouble now since the lovely ladies he sees might not carry any "pretty gene" and Charles Darwin must be really impressed with how modern ladies play their own role of God.

Charles Darwin's illustration of sexual selection.
Image from Wikipedia

But if you remember Newton's Third Law of motion, the action-reaction law,

Skaters forces on each other are equal in magnitude, and in opposite directions
Image from Wikipedia

"To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction: or the forces of two bodies on each other are always equal and are directed in opposite directions."

So maybe,
"To every surgical action done on the face to improve the look there is always an equivalent amount of action done on your cash in the opposite direction."

But is that all?

Please read the article below from the Standard:


The ugly side of beauty parlors


Patsy Moy
Monday, June 07, 2010



Plastic surgeons have expressed alarm over a sharp increase in complaints against beauty parlors.

The biggest rise in complaints involved injections of beauty serum and chemicals, such as botox and skin-whitening serum, according to the Hong Kong Surgical Laser Association.

The Consumer Council has received 48 complaints against parlors in the first four months of this year, accounting for nearly 40 percent of the 124 recorded last year and in 2008.

Until the end of April, 11 complaints were about injection of beauty serum and chemicals such as botox, placenta and skin whitening, compared to 16 complaints last year and 15 in 2008.


Hong Kong Association of Cosmetic Surgery president Walter King Wing-keung attributed the rise in complaints to the growing use of syringe treatment in beauty parlors, which gives consumers the wrong impression that it is safer than plastic surgery.

King warned most parlors are run by non-doctors who do not have enough medical knowledge to conduct risk assessment. Some customers ended up suffering from severe allergies and rashes after injections, he added.
However, the parlors fail to provide follow-up treatment.

Surgical Laser Association president Chan Wai-man also blamed the parlors for ignoring health risks by organizing tours for customers to receive plastic surgery in Japan and South Korea.

Chan warned against the use of laser treatment in beauty parlors particularly. He said the equipment requires highly competent technical staff to operate it or both customers and equipment operators could be put at risk.

Chan said there were complaints from customers and even repair workers that their eyes were burned accidentally by the laser equipment, causing permanent injuries.

He called for tighter government controls and advised customers to be more cautious before receiving beauty treatment.

Instead of seeking treatments from beauty parlors, customers should go to doctors for better and safer services, Chan added.




Do you remember the Online English Manga website I have recommended? There you might just find the truth for obtaining non-gifted beauty:

Image from Bokutachi No Blog

From FullMetal Alchemist,
"Human kind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one and only truth"

Of course, now we know that something of equal value must be lost can be more than just money. So, are you willing to pay?


BOTOX (from Wikipedia)
Botulinum toxin is a medication and a neurotoxic protein produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, and is known to be very toxic with an LD50 of roughly 0.005–0.05 µg/kg making it the most toxic substance known to man. Despite its deadly toxic effect, it is sometimes used in very small doses to treat muscle spasms. Popularly known by one of its trade names, Botox, botulinum toxin is now commonly used in various settings for cosmetic procedures

Side effects:
muscle paralysis: drooping eyelid, double vision, uneven smile or loss of the ability to close eyes, headaches, dysphagia, flu-like syndromes, and allergic reactions.


Vocabulary:
beauty parlour /salon/shop -- (n)[C] a place where your hair, face and body can be given special treatments to improve their appearance
serum -- (n)[C or U](plural serums or sera) a substance in beauty products that is designed to improve your hair or skin and make it less dry
placenta -- (n)[C] (plural placentas or placentae) the temporary organ which feeds a foetus (= developing baby) inside its mother's womb
attribute sth to sb/sth -- (phrasal verb) to say or think that something is the result or work of something or someone else
syringe -- (n)[C] a hollow cylindrical piece of equipment which is used for sucking liquid out of, or pushing liquid into something, especially one with a needle which can be put under the skin and used to inject drugs, remove small amounts of blood, etc.
allergy -- (n)[C] a condition that makes a person become ill or develop skin or breathing problems because they have eaten certain foods or been near certain substances


Resources:
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=30&art_id=99094&sid=28496026&con_type=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Darwin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inception_of_Darwin's_theory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_selection
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_selection
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton's_laws_of_motion
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2010/05/comics-online-english-manga-free-2.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botox
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botox#Side_effects

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/beauty-salon-parlour
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/serum
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/placenta
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/attribute-sth-to-sb-sth#attribute-sth-to-sb-sth__2
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/syringe_1
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/allergy#allergy__3