By Gloria Chandy, Editor

Botched cosmetic treatments leave horrible scars... disfigured noses, permanently bee-stung lips, breasts that went go after failed silicone jobs. It could be worse, fatal even.

Time and again, such horror stories have surfaced of people here and abroad who, unhappy with what nature had endowed them, chose to alter it.

Why did they do it? They might have felt unattractive, or wanted desperately to please someone they fancied, or were just plain vain.

Nothing wrong with wanting to look good, I say. Everyone has the right to please himself and the people he cares for most. And, if he goes about it diligently and with the help of qualified and reputable medical professionals, he should have little to fear.

Modern-day surgery for cosmetic purposes is routine now, with little or no serious damage to patients, save to their wallets. Yes, you need to pay to look good. And not because cosmetic surgeons are avaricious, even though some have been so accused. Many of the procedures are delicate and expensive.

So if you are not prepared to pay for it, be happy with what you see in the mirror.

While I am not totally unsympathetic towards the people who end up looking terrible because of botched jobs, I can't help feeling that they brought it all on themselves.

Surely they must have realised that altering their nose, chin or breasts isn't as easily fixed as a bad haircut? An adventurous hairdresser can't harm you like a charlatan who illegally performs operations in some backlane clinic or who surreptitiously offers silicone jabs in a fly-by-night operation.

Last November, three Singaporeans who let a beautician from Batam inject them with 'hormones' and 'collagen' ended up with pus-filled abscesses on their breasts and chins.

A New York woman died of a silicone embolism in her lungs in March because of a dubious and illegal operation (see Deadly jabs).

Did these people so desperately want to look attractive that they were willing to risk their safety, health - and even their lives - for it?

Surely, the benefit of a 'cheap deal' is not worth the risk of permanent disfigurement.

gloria@sph.com.sg

This article was first published in Mind Your Body, The Straits Times.