For Zhang Hui, a plastic surgeon in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, the pressure began just a few days after a former talent show star died during facial bone grinding surgery.

Hong Kong celebrity Lily Chung undergoes plastic surgery in Shanghai. The plastic surgery industry has boomed in recent years, resulting in a number of shady hospitals offering high-risk operations.

The surgeon usually receives more than 50 inquiries a day. But some of the calls received over the past few days took Zhang, who has performed thousands of operations, by surprise.

"I will not undergo facial surgery since I have heard that people die from it, and that the industry was problematic," one e-mail said.

Fears over the safety of plastic surgery were raised after the death during an operation of Wang Bei, a contestant on the reality TV show Super Girl. "People are concerned about safety now," Zhang said.

The plastic surgery industry, which was legalized in 1994, has always encountered crises of trust. The last was in 2005, when women injected with polyacrylamide gel as part of their breast enlargement procedures suffered excruciating pain after the operation, and had to have their breasts amputated.

Authorities confirmed that Wang, 24, died on November 15 due to complications from anesthetization during plastic surgery at the Zhong'ao Cosmetic Surgery Hospital in Wuhan, Hubei Province.

The health ministry called on local health authorities to step up supervision over the medical cosmetology industry, and practice transparency when investigating Wang's case, whose results are expected to be released Tuesday.

Wang Liangming, the contestant's attending surgeon, said the surgery had been suc-cessful and the girl died of an unexpected heart problem two hours after the operation.

Booming business

The cosmetology industry has seen a boom in recent years. Women undergo plastic surgery for a variety of reasons, from securing job interviews to finding a partner.

Figures from the Chinese Association of Plastics and Aesthetics, an organization that supervises the industry, said more than three million people underwent plastic surgery in 2009.

"We have, on average, 30 to 50 patients undergoing plastic surgery every day," Geng Li, a doctor at a private hospital in Beijing, told the Global Times.

Geng said an eyelid and nose job costs between 2,000 to 3,000 yuan ($299 to $449) per operation, while jawbone grinding surgery, which carries greater risks, can cost up to 50,000 yuan ($7,499).

One of Zhang's patients has had nose surgery performed at least six times.