In many cultures, ears protruding too much from the skull are considered a physical defect, but in China, people are more than happy to go under the knife to attain this physical trait known as “elf ears”.

China’s ‘elf ears’ cosmetic craze received worldwide attention in 2021 when it was covered by some of the world’s largest news outlets after becoming a trending topic on Chinese social media. It all started with a before-and-after photo posted on Weibo, China’s version of X (Twitter), by online influencer Chen Jianan who had recently undergone a procedure to make her ears more visible from the front. Chen was of the belief that this minor change made her face look slimmer and younger, and judging by the number of Chinese cosmetic clinics offering the ‘elf ears’ procedure, she is definitely not the only one. Many people are willing to go under the knife and pay big money to get protruding ears.

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The hottest cosmetic trend on TikTok these days is ‘Barbie Botox’, a procedure in which botox is injected into the trapezius muscles in order to make the neck look longer and more slender.

The Barbie Botox procedure was originally devised as a way to relax the severely overworked trapezius muscles which could cause painful neck tension and even migraines, but one of its side effects was purely cosmetic. When the neurotoxin is injected into each trapezius muscle at the bottom of the neck, it cuts the connection to the nerve, temporarily paralyzing the muscle. Over time, this causes the trapezius to shrink, which makes the person’s neck look longer, and more slender, kind of like that of a plastic doll, hence the name…

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