Lebanon: Beauty is a National Duty
Written by Haitham Sabbah on 02. November 2007, 2209hrs // Part of Haitham Sabbah's adventure in Lebanon // Other posts by Haitham Sabbah
Wanted: Angelina Jolie’s luscious lips or Lebanese sex bomb Haifa Wehbe’s nose or breasts.
Men and women from oil-rich Arab Gulf states have been coming in droves to fix their noses, lift buttocks and enlarge their breasts in Lebanon, attracted by the reputation of the country’s surgeons, its low prices, good weather and buzzing night-life.
“Sixty percent of our clients are Lebanese and 40 percent from the Gulf,” said Elias Shammas, owner of the Hazmieh International Medical Centre, which employs an army of no less than 50 plastic surgeons.
The most sought after surgeries are nose jobs, liposuctions, face-lifts and breast implants.
“A nose job costs about 2,000 dollars in Lebanon, against 4,000 dollars in London and between 5,000 and 10,000 dollars in the United States,” Shammas said.
“For Lebanese woman, being beautiful is a national duty, not a luxury. Women compete with each others, and plastic surgery has ceased to be a taboo subject and become something to brag about,” he said.
On Beirut’s trendy shopping streets, women stroll along the sidewalks with band-aids covering their nose jobs and sleeveless shirts showing bandages covering recent breast implants.
In a country suffering an economic crisis, the plastic surgery craze has even prompted Lebanon’s First National Bank to offer three-year loans, with a six percent interest rate, for such operations.
[Hat tip: Robin]
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November 2nd, 2007 at 10:49 pm
Well it’s no secret, the Lebanese love beauty, but honestly, I think they tend to take it to extremes. Ye3ni it’s a bit too much to take out a loan to do a nose job for God’s sake.
However, what I understood is that the ratio of women to men is fairly high (due to the war, and also because many men seek jobs abroad), so women have to face fierce competition in order to marry. Of course, not every Lebanese lady thinks that way, but that’s what some Lebanese girls told me.
November 3rd, 2007 at 2:53 am
This is just sad !! I can’t say anymore!!
November 3rd, 2007 at 6:02 am
A brief internet search revealed a troubling contrast: plastic surgery for cosmetic purposes is increasingly popular while Palestinians and Palestinian refugees are in dire need of plastic surgeons for medical necessity.
Saudi Arabia: http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=81824&d=7&m=5&y=2006
Iran: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5391910.stm
Perusing different sites suggests Israel has a very advanced plastic surgery industry, yet I could not find anything about the popularity of different kinds of plastic surgery there.
As for Palestine: http://www.pcrf.net/medical/plastic.html
November 6th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
Well, Arabs have to have good looking noses and boobs so that they can attract their opponents to peace
January 4th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Lebanese have another gender of beauty wether women or men