Cosmetic cravings: Asia's Gen Z risk it all for cut-price ‘glow-ups'
By the time she was 21, Singaporean Regina Yeo had the sharper jaw and higher nasal bridge that she'd craved throughout her teens.
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Self-avowedly 'young, broke and desperate', she still managed to scrape together the few hundred dollars needed for treatment at an unlicensed clinic staffed by women from
Vietnam in
Singapore 's Lavender district.
Looking back, the beauty blogger – now 25 – has no regrets.
In fact, she said the fear and 'piercing pain' of that first, high-risk foray into changing her appearance jump-started the never-ending quest to improve her looks.
'Growing up, I wasn't very attractive and there were some things about my appearance that I wanted to improve,' she told This Week in Asia.
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'It wasn't that I didn't like my face, but there were just things I wanted to work towards – much like how I go to the gym.'
For Yeo, and the millions of young Southeast Asians like her, the end results are worth both the financial cost and the risks associated with aesthetic treatments.
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