Photo: YouTube
Is beauty truly in the eye of the beholder?
By Alexandra Blogier — Written on Mar 27, 2023
A mom in Japan who runs a plastic surgery YouTube channel with her young daughter came under criticism for being a toxic parent after encouraging her daughter to have cosmetic surgery.
In Japan, minors below the age of 18 can get plastic surgery as long as they have their parents’ consent.
The mom made her 9-year-old daughter get surgery to ‘look more beautiful.’
Rucchi’s 9-year-old daughter, Micchi, got eyelid surgery, to change her monolid to a double lid, which her mother claims “is the beauty standard.”
According to a report from VICE News, eyelid surgery, or blepharoplasty, made up over 64% of all surgical procedures in Japan in 2020. While it’s a relatively low-risk procedure, there are still complications that can arise as a result of the surgery, including blindness or injury to surrounding eye muscles.
“A girl needs double eyelids,” Rucchi claimed in an interview with VICE. “I have never seen a girl with monolids who I thought was pretty.”
When asked what makes a person beautiful, Micchi responded, “If you can endure the pain of plastic surgery, that makes you a beautiful person, in my opinion.”
“I was told my eyes were narrow, so it looked like I was glaring at people,” Micchi states. “That's why I wanted to have plastic surgery.”
The 9-year-old claimed she wanted plastic surgery to fix her eyes, but it's hard to imagine she wasn't influenced by her mother's opinion of beauty.
Rucchi said that her own mother and younger sister both have “amazing big eyes.”
“Everyone thought my younger sister was much cuter than me,” Rucchi stated, highlighting that her trauma around her appearance was internally compounded and passed down to her daughter.
Rucchi paid 400,000 Yen, or 2,800 USD for Micchi to have the double eyelid procedure. Micchi said that while the surgery was scary, she can’t remember much of it. Rucchi explained that the anesthesia didn’t work, so Micchi “started to panic.”
“It was supposed to be over in 20 minutes, but in the end, it took them more than 2 hours,” Rucchi explained.
Rucchi went on to say that she had plastic surgery at age 18 but wished she’d done it sooner. VICE reports that a 2021 study found that many in Japan get plastic surgery due to peer pressure or influence from family or friends.
“I wanted to make her life easier by conforming to an objective beauty and cuteness standard,” Rucchi explained as the reasoning behind having her daughter get cosmetic surgery. “If you do it at a young age, you lose your memory of being ugly before. You can make memories of yourself being cute with double eyelids from an early age.”
“I wanted this procedure to have this kind of positive impact on her. I didn’t want her to grow up with a complex about it, that was my main concern.”
When asked if she would say that she made Micchi do it, Rucchi broke down in tears. “I’m very sorry that I made her go through that painful experience,” she cried. “After the procedure was done I told her, ‘I’m sorry. Thank you very much, you were so brave.’”
“She said, ‘Don’t cry, Mommy, you spent all that money to make me cuter. That makes me happy. Thank you, Mommy.’”
Tomohiro Suzuki studies child psychology and body image at Tokyo Future University and believes that when plastic surgery is performed on minors, “you might have a more ambiguous idea of your ideal image.”
“So even if you have plastic surgery done to get closer to your ideal image, that image might change again over time and you’ll need surgery again to get you closer to that new image, then you are trapped in a loop, unable to stop getting surgery.”
As far as Rucchi is concerned, “plastic surgery is a form of support.” She believes that "plastic surgery is a part of life for girls."
The rise of social media influencers has compounded the idea that there is a right way to look, yet it’s easy to see how cosmetic surgery could become a sort of compulsion. One can only hope that those going under the knife find the true meaning of self-acceptance and radical self-love.
Alexandra Blogier is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team. She covers celebrity gossip, pop culture analysis and all things to do with the entertainment industry.