Closer to the equator, Asia-Pacific takes on a different face, both geographically and literally.

Facial features in people from the Southeast differ in subtle ways from those descended from farther north (Korea, China, Japan), and skin tones are distinctly darker.

Still, the most popular plastic surgery operations remain double eyelid surgery to create or enhance a crease and augmentation rhinoplasty to build up the nasal bridge and spine.

Over the past decade, the "Korean Wave" of celebrity-driven infatuation with plastic surgery has extended not just over mainland China but also into the southern countries where growth in technology and wealth have not always kept pace with the north.

Disposable income aside, the demand for cosmetic surgery has grown explosively. What has emerged out of such desire and circumstance is a spotty mix of cosmetic services that range from world-class good to world-class sad.

Cosmetic tourism, or the growing phenomenon of patients traveling to foreign countries for plastic surgery, is driven in large part by lower prices. That requirement is easy to meet in most of Southeast Asia.

It is also driven by quality, a metric that varies exponentially from country to country as well as within the same country or even same city, sometimes aided by help from the local government but too often hindered by regulatory neglect.