【Ho Chi Minh 】35,000 Cosmetic Surgery Complications Annually: The Consequences of the ‘Beauty Maze’

The proliferation of aesthetic institutions—from hospital-run clinics and specialized medical centers to unlicensed spas and beauty salons—has created a confusing maze for consumers. More alarmingly, many facilities operate without any license, and practitioners lack medical expertise yet brazenly perform complex procedures such as filler injections, Botox, rhinoplasty, and eyelid surgery.
Journalist Le Thanh Tam, member of the editorial board and head of the Tien Phong newspaper representative office in Ho Chi Minh City, noted that Vietnamese demand for cosmetic services is rising alongside economic and social development. However, this rapid growth has led to many concerning consequences.

The main reason for tens of thousands of complications annually is facilities that fail to adhere to proper professional standards or exceed their scope of practice. In particular, the complicity of social media platforms with unverified and misleading advertisements exploits the desire of a segment of the population for cheap prices.

The sad and contradictory reality unfolding daily in major hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City is that formally trained and qualified doctors spend most of their time repairing the consequences of failed cosmetic procedures performed at unlicensed facilities.
Associate Professor, Doctor of Medicine, and Level 2 Specialist Le Hanh—a leading expert in cosmetic surgery—issued a stern warning about the risks behind attractive advertisements. When a medically unqualified person independently uses scalpels or needles, all safety and infection control standards are completely ignored. Promises of absolute safety or suspiciously low prices are often deadly traps, leading patients to severe complications such as tissue necrosis, blindness, blood poisoning, and even stroke on the operating table.
Ho Chi Minh City has nearly 6,450 beauty salons that do not require evaluation or licensing from specialized agencies.