现年35岁的唐女士（化名）此后又做了两次双眼皮手术，在颈部注射过肉毒杆菌，每月还进行非侵入性的“皮肤提拉”治疗。她说：“我身边认识的人几乎都做过填充或整容手术。”
中国的整容市场正在蓬勃发展。一些分析家认为，中国现在拥有全球最大的整容市场。据咨询公司德勤估计，2019年，中国“医疗美容”行业(包括手术、注射和皮肤治疗)的市场规模为270亿美元，约占全球市场规模的五分之一。
该公司估计，2015年至2019年，中国医美市场的年均增长率达29%，而全球年均增长率约为9%。德勤估计，到2023年，中国医美市场规模将达到480亿美元。
Figures can be vague partly because “there is a huge hidden market” that goes unreported, says Yi Wu of Maastricht University in the Netherlands. For example Dongguan, a city in southern China, has over 6,000 unlicensed clinics but only 43 licensed ones. The International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery has not included detailed data on China in its global reporting since 2011.
荷兰马斯特里赫特大学的吴怡表示，数据之所以含糊不清，在一定程度上是因为“有一个巨大的隐藏市场”未经披露。以中国南部城市东莞为例，那里有6000多家无证医美诊所，而有证诊所仅为43家。自2011年以来，国际美容整形外科学会就未在其全球报告中纳入有关中国的详细数据。
Starting young is common. In 2020 61% of patients were aged 16-25, up from 48% two years earlier. More than 90% are under 35, and 85% are female. In America, 81% of cosmetic-surgery patients are over 30 and nearly one-quarter are over 55.
医美消费者的年龄普遍都很小。2020年，61%的医美消费者年龄在16-25岁，高于两年前的48%。超过90%的医美消费者年龄在35岁以下，女性占85%。在美国，81%的整容手术患者年龄超过30岁，近四分之一的患者年龄超过55岁。
Ms Wu believes part of the reason young people have surgery is the influence of Confucian parenting, which means that children grow up without unconditional approval. This normally leads to academic pressure, she says, but it can also be internalised so that children feel the need to improve their appearance from a young age.
吴怡认为，年轻人之所以热衷于做整容手术，在一定程度上是受教育方式的影响，他们在成长过程中缺乏足够的认可。她说，这通常会给他们带来学业压力，但也会被内在化，让孩子们觉得有必要从小改善自己的外表。
Double-eyelid surgery accounts for half of all treatments. (In America breast augmentations are the most popular procedure, although in 2020, the year of Zoom, more Americans fixed their noses than their breasts.)
双眼皮手术的数量占所有医美手术的一半。（在美国，最受欢迎的医美手术是隆胸，当然，在视频会议盛行的2020年，越来越多的美国人开始隆鼻，而不再隆胸。）
Some say the desire for rounder eyes is about looking more Western. But women care more about achieving the “golden ratio” of facial proportions, a more Chinese requirement, reckons Joyce Xu, who works in marketing in Beijing.
有人说，人们之所以渴望拥有更圆的眼睛，是因为那样看起来更西方化。但在北京从事市场营销工作的乔伊斯·徐认为，女性更关心的是达到面部的“黄金比例”，这是一种更具中国特色的审美观念。
The golden ratio is an upside-down triangle: big eyes, relatively flat cheekbones, a narrow jaw and a small mouth. Ms Xu (also not her real name) started Botox injections to that end when she was 27.
黄金比例是一个倒三角：大眼睛、相对平坦的颧骨、尖下巴和小嘴巴。徐女士（化名）从27岁开始注射肉毒杆菌。
随着中产阶级收入的增加，越来越多的人能够负担得起医美手术。徐女士每季度注射肉毒杆菌的费用是3000-5000元（约合460-770美元），她认为这很划算。然而，肉毒杆菌美容的流行也导致假货泛滥。
An estimated two-thirds of injectables in China are unlicensed. In February Gao Liu, an actress, shared shocking pictures on social media of her botched nose job. It resulted in the tissue on the tip of her nose dying and turning black.
据估计，中国三分之二的注射剂是没有许可证的。今年2月，女演员高溜在社交媒体上分享了自己整容失败的令人震惊的照片。这场手术导致她鼻尖处的组织坏死并变黑。
Horror stories such as Ms Gao’s may not slow growth. One consequence of starting on treatments so young is that your “baseline appearance gets forgotten,” notes Ms Wu. As a movie character almost said, there’s a great future in plastic surgery.
高溜这样的惨剧可能并不会减缓中国医美市场的增长。吴怡指出，这么年轻就做医美手术的后果是，你会“忘记自己原本的长相”。就像一个电影角色所说的那样，医美市场有着广阔的前景。
(红色标注词为重难点词汇)