Under the veil, a little nip and tuck
Cosmetic-surgery boom is putting a new face (and body) on Saudi Arabia.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Does Islam frown on nose jobs? Chemical peels? How about breast implants?
One of the clerics with the answers is Sheikh Mohammed al-Nujaimi, and Saudi women flock to him for guidance about going under the knife. The results may not see much light of day in a kingdom where women cover up from head to toe, yet cosmetic surgery is booming.
Religion covers every facet of life in Saudi Arabia, including plastic surgery. Nujaimi draws his guidelines from the consensus that was reached three years ago when clergymen and plastic surgeons met in Riyadh to determine whether cosmetic procedures violate the Islamic tenet against tampering with God's creation.
The verdict was that it's halal (sanctioned) to augment unusually small breasts, fix features that are causing a person grief, or reverse damage from an accident. But undergoing an unsafe procedure or changing the shape of a "perfect nose" just to resemble a singer or actress is haram (forbidden).
"I get calls from many, many women asking about cosmetic procedures," said Nujaimi. "The presentations we got from the doctors made me better equipped to give them guidance."
In recent years, plastic surgery centers with gleaming facades have sprung up on streets in Riyadh, the capital. Their front-page newspaper ads promise laser treatments, hair implants, and liposuction.
From rarities only 10 years ago, the centers now number 35 and are "saturating the Saudi market," Ahmed al-Otaibi, a Saudi skin specialist, was quoted as saying in the newspaper Al-Hayat.
Otaibi cited a study that said liposuction, breast augmentations, and nose jobs are the most popular among women, while men go for hair implants and nose jobs.
Saudi women see nothing unusual about undergoing plastic surgery and then covering it up in robes and veils.
One professional woman pointed out that underneath their robes, women go in for designer clothes and trendy haircuts to be flaunted at women's gatherings, shown to their husbands, and exposed on trips abroad.
"We attend a lot of private occasions, and we also travel," said the woman, Sarah, 28, who declined to give her full name to protect her privacy.
Ayman al-Sheikh, a Saudi doctor who spent almost 14 years in the United States, most of them at Harvard, said demand in Saudi Arabia is in line with increased global demand. But what he sees more of in the Arab world, including Saudi Arabia, is customers for procedures that enhance the face to the point where it no longer looks natural.
The trend is being set by entertainers whose pouty lips, chiseled midriffs, and enhanced breasts are seen on TV across the Arab world.
Not all customers seek religious sanction, and not all surgeons abide by the clerics' guidelines, so a woman is apt to pick a surgeon depending on how liberal he is.
"People are overdone by design or by mistake," Sheikh, 43, said. "If something is done on a famous figure it becomes iconic in our world, even if it doesn't look aesthetically appealing."