Afghanistan Opens First Cosmetic Surgery Clinic

The Hamkar Surgery Clinic in Kabul is the first to offer cosmetic surgery in Afghanistan.

The Hamkar Surgery Clinic in Kabul might be tiny, but it marks a huge change in Afghan society: it’s the first and only hospital to offer private cosmetic surgery. Afghanistan’s newly emerging middle-class women – and many men – are flocking to the clinic for nose jobs, eyelid lifts, tummy tucks, breast lifts and other procedures. “People here want to look beautiful just like people everywhere,” says Dr. Daud Nazari, 39, one of the clinic’s two plastic surgeons. “We are very busy. We can hardly keep up with demand.”

RELATED: Miss Russia "Not Russian Enough"

For years, surgery in Afghanistan was mainly focused on repairing war wounds – skin grafts for burns and scars, sewing back on fingers and ears, fixing prosthetic limbs. But recently demand has surged for purely aesthetic procedures. “Some people save their salaries for months to get whatever bothers them about their appearance fixed,” says Dr. Nazari, who charges around $450 for a nose job and $350 for a tummy tuck, almost a tenth of the price in the U.S. For women in particular, Dr. Nazari says the decision to improve their looks is a way of taking control of their own bodies. “For a long time Afghan women have been told what to wear, how to look, how to act. This is a way of expressing their freedom and individuality.”

Located up a dusty stairwell in the western part of the capital, the clinic has only one operating room and a few cramped recovery areas. The most popular operations are nose and eyelid surgery. “Women want big eyes and high noses like their Bollywood idols,” says Leslie Knott, a Canadian photographer and filmmaker who has been documenting the clinic’s female patients since plastic surgery slowly began there two years ago. Other typical customers, says Knott, are mothers who bring their daughters to correct their “imperfections” in the hope of procuring a higher bride price, and young women in their twenties who have fled abusive marriages and want surgery to boost their self-esteem.

RELATED: Investigation: Forced Sterilsation

“It’s a very complex culture, but women from all backgrounds take great pride in their appearance,” says Knott. One woman she photographed wanted a nose like Angelina Jolie. “Women are very plugged in, particularly in Kabul. They read fashion magazines and they know about foreign movie stars.” Women in the capital are generally not threatened by reprisals from the Taliban, who violently condemn any form of female vanity or beautification. But some women have risked travelling from remote Taliban-controlled areas for surgery. Afterwards, they’ve hidden their bandages under their burqas to avoid detection.

But some Afghans have also expressed their disapproval of the new trend. “Some people think cosmetic surgery is shallow. They say things like ‘Is this what our sons died for?’” says Knott. “But nobody can dictate what freedom looks like – if women want to change their appearance by having surgery, then that’s their choice."