BEIJING — Authorities have carried out a series of raids on beauty salons in the Chinese capital in an effort to crack down on counterfeit Botox, The Beijing News reports.
Botox is popular in China, where many young women aspire to have a thin V-shape face. But the high price of injections, which require regular follow-up sessions at clinics, has resulted in many women seeking black-market options that involve fake products, the article claims.
Counterfeit Botox is bought for up to 300 RMB ($45) and sold for many times that amount through aggressive social media promotion, online chat platforms and word-of-mouth. The injections are done in beauty parlors, rented apartments or hotel rooms. A Botox session takes only a few minutes, and is often referred to as the "lunch break cosmetic" in China,
"The black market is almost out of control," Dr. Wang Zhongjie, a member of Chinese Medical Association, told the news outlet.
Unqualified beauticians carry out the injections. "It may be injected into a blood vessel by these people without professional medical training," said Xiu Zhifu, a plastic surgeon.
Vanity, it would seem, has no limits.
