Faking it for real beauty

ONE MAN'S MEAT
By PHILIP GOLINGAI

Former Miss Malaysia finalist Leng Yein thinks nothing about going under the knife as long as it enhances her looks. And she says she may have a fake face and fake boobs but ‘I have a real personality’.

THE first time model Leng Yein thought of going for plastic surgery was in 2003 when she was 18.

At that time she was Miss Pahang and a Miss Malaysia 2003 finalist and her boyfriend had betrayed her with a pretty girl.

“I was quite heartbroken, so I told myself if one day I could afford it, I would make myself look pretty,” recalled the 26-year-old model who grew up in Kuantan.

Three years later, her wish became a reality. In an act which she described as “random”, she went under the knife in Beijing.

Leng Yein was in China to participate in Miss Tourism International 2006. After the pageant she extended her stay in Beijing.

“I went to a massage parlour because I was so bored.

“There was this girl with a red nose and I asked her, “Do you have a running nose?”

She replied, “No, I just did my nose.”

And I asked myself: “How come I did not notice she had a nose job” .

They became friends.

The next day the Beijing girl took her shopping.

“While shopping, she told Leng Yein that she wanted to say “hello” to her plastic surgeon.

“There were so many people lying down (at the clinic) cutting their nose. I could see that it was a dodgy place.

I asked, “How long to do the whole thing?”

I was told it took an half hour to 40 minutes.

“And there and then I did it (to make her flat nose sharper),” she said.

A few months later, while visiting Miss Thailand (whom she befriended during the Miss Tourism International pageant) in Bangkok, in another random act, Leng Yein went under the knife again. This time to stitch dimples on her cheeks and a boob job.

“Actually I have big breasts but they were just not that firm. I wanted them to be perky.

“And also I wanted them balanced (as one was slightly smaller than the other),” said the model who went from BC bra size to CD (one cup size bigger).

The boob job was painful. She could not jiggle them for two months or carry heavy stuff.

In 2008, she redid her nose (Her nose had an unnatural L-shape) in Kuala Lumpur. Plus the nose job was free as she was the ambassador of a plastic surgery company.

In Sept 2010, in Kuala Lumpur she made her lips (“they were really, really thin that when I smiled I couldn’t see them”) thicker.

Unlike most Malaysians who have undergone plastic surgery, Leng Yein has gone public about hers.

“I’m probably the only person in Malaysia who dares tell everyone that I went for plastic surgery. Maybe it is because I’m an Aries. I will write about it in my blog (lengyein.blogspot.com) or Facebook (facebook.com/lengyein),” said the businesswoman, who owns a boutique, fashion accessories shop, nail & beauty salon, tattoo parlour and a mamak restaurant.

Her blog and Facebook followers’ response to her “confession” has been 65% negative (for example, do you want ending up like Michael Jackson?). But 99% of the private messages she received have been positive.

“Many are girls who want to go for plastic surgery but are afraid that people will think of them differently,” she noted.

So what does her hubby – who is quite a romantic (he proposed to her via a billboard in Petaling Jaya on 9-9-09) – think?

“He hates plastic surgery. But it (plastic surgery) was a random thing for me.

“When I did it and came home with stitches, he would ask ‘why do you keep cutting yourself?’ But he would respect my decision,” she said.

On Thursday, Leng Yein will fly to Seoul for probably her last plastic surgery as she doesn’t want to end up like Michael Jackson (who allegedly had a botched nose job).

She couldn’t resist the offer of free plastic surgery performed by South Korea’s top plastic surgeons.

In exchange of getting big eyes like Japan’s pop princess Ayumi Hamasaki, dimples (fake dimple last for a year), a new nose, she has agreed to be the poster girl of a Kuala Lumpur-based plastic surgery company.

At the end of the interview, the bubbly Leng Yein confided: “I might have a fake face and fake boobs but I have a real personality.”