The most popular procedures among young people are for eyes, nose and facial contours, including jawline, forehead, and chin. [Photo By Yang Dong/For China Daily]

This is even more true among people born in the 1990s, market surveys having revealed that they are more apt to be self-conscious, more likely to show off and circulate their photos and details about their personal and work life on social media, and like themselves to be seen as fashionable, Jin says.

Some even take loans when they lack the money to pay for surgery.

In March the company launched a business program to provide loans to people who want to have cosmetic surgery, and it received more than 10,000 applications for loans totaling more than 49 million yuan by the end of August, Jin says.

Xiao says her new looks have made her more confident than ever, and she believes it has benefited her in many ways. For example, once she left college the surgery helped her land a good job easily, she says.

"The other candidates were just as good as me, if not better, in terms of education, personality and work experience, but it was I who got the opportunity. When people competing for a job are similarly qualified it makes a big difference if you look better."

In the past, boys she took a fancy to rejected her overtures but now she has suitors lining up for her attention, she says.

In addition, her parents have told her that if she wants more cosmetic surgery they are willing to pay for it.

Many of her friends and relatives have followed her lead and had cosmetic surgery.

Xuan Xuan, 25, says having such surgery is now common among young people.

Many of her friends have had cosmetic surgery, and it is as much a topic of conversation as clothes and cosmetics, and they pass on information to each other about doctors and procedures, she says.

She had face slimming injections when she was 19 and has since had eyelid surgery, and regular hyaluronic acid injections to fill out her face, and botulin toxin injections to make it slim.

For her the rationale behind having cosmetic procedures is simply that it makes her look beautiful and thus makes her happy, she says.