Expat Pakistanis head home to fuel makeover boom

ISLAMABAD, June 30 (Reuters) Fancy a tummy tuck or face lift? How about a hair transplant? Such surgical procedures are de rigueur in the West, but the trend is now also catching on in an unlikely country -- conservative Pakistan.

Lured by the cheap cost, expatriate Pakistanis are among the biggest customers returning to their homeland for cosmetic surgery in what is a rapidly expanding business in the predominantly Muslim country.

Hamayun Mohmand's Hair Transplant Institute in Islamabad is typical of clinics in Pakistan that offer breast enlargement, tummy tucks, face lifts, nose jobs and hair transplants.

He says most of his customers are people of Pakistani origin from overseas. ''My biggest concentration of people is from the United States. Second is the U K,'' Mohmand told Reuters at his clinic in the capital.

Other customers getting treatment at a tenth of the price they would have to pay in the West include people of Pakistani descent from continental Europe, especially Norway and Denmark, and a few from Australia, he said.

Ijaz Ahmed, a businessman of Pakistani origin from the British city of Manchester, said he had hair transplant work done in Britain and Greece but he wasn't satisfied with the results.

Then a friend recommended Pakistan.

''I was worried about rip-offs but I got some references and people said good things about their experiences in Pakistan,'' Ahmed said.

''I came to Pakistan, taking a risk, but I've had absolutely no problem.

''One of my friends used to go all the way to Thailand because it's very cheap there but Pakistan is also very similar. I'm from Pakistan and decided to get it here,'' he said.

''BELIEVE IN LOOKING GOOD'' But it's not just people from overseas who are flocking to improve their appearances at clinics in Pakistan.

Steadily rising economic growth is bringing with it the ways of a Western consumer culture, especially in its biggest cities -- Lahore and Karachi.

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