But why retaliate by asking for a boob job? Qiu Qiu, 23, said: “In reality, I’d been living with the stigma of having a flat chest.
“I’m so tired of being called an airport runway.” In a separate interview, her sister, Ms Pearl Ang, 30, confirmed that Qiu Qiu had always been upset by her lack of growth in that area.
The human resources manager said: “Qiu Ting would return home from school and share how she had been teased by her schoolmates, especially the boys.”
How she ended up getting the free treatment sheds interesting light on how the Internet can work to one’s advantage.
After Qiu Qiu posted her entry, she was flamed for it when someone wrote to citizen journalism website Stomp.
Netizens called her a beggar and accused her of being vain. But this also increased the traffic to her blog – from the average of 1,000 hits to about 2,000 a day.
Meanwhile, Internet entertainment portal clicknetwork. tv had also spotted her blog as part of its talent scouting.
Miss Gillian Tan, 30, director of Munkysuperstar Pictures, said: “We found that Qiu Qiu was a savvy shopper and decided to produce a shopping programme with her as the host.”
Budget Barbie raised Qiu Qiu’s profile further and traffic to her blog hit 4,500 a day. She was also interviewed on RazorTV, where she defended her blog posting. And in an article in The Straits Times in July, she talked again about she hoped to get sponsorship for breasts implants before donning a bikini on her show.
It resulted in a handful of offers – including one from a public relations company representing a reputable aesthetic clinic – made through clicknetwork. tv to sponsor Qiu Qiu for the treatment.
A close friend of Miss Tan’s told her about Dr Jonathan Lee, whom she was seeing.
Breast filler
Miss Tan then approached Dr Lee for his participation in the project, and this eventually led to Qiu Qiu, who is also a part-time model, getting a sponsorship for a breast filler procedure last month. Dr Lee, leading consultant surgeon at The Aesthetic Studio, performed the procedure for free while medical group Q-Med sponsored the gel filler that was used.
Breast fillers cost between $8,000 and $12,000, depending on the amount of gel injected.
The standard procedure, which takes some 30 to 45 minutes, is performed under local anaesthesia. A gel is injected through special cannulas (blunt metallic tubes) either from the armpit or under the breast crease into the fat beneath the glandular tissues in the breast.
It is considered minimally invasive and does not affect the breast function. Patients have to wear a support garment for a week.
Miss Tan said: “We settled for Dr Lee because Qiu Qiu felt most comfortable with the treatment that he’d suggested.
“I also liked the fact that he was very detailed in explaining the various options.”
Dr Lee said: “I agreed to do the procedure with the sole objective of educating and informing the public of this non-surgical aesthetic procedure that can be a safe and effective option for body contouring.”
When Qiu Qiu first knew that “it” was going to happen, she didn’t dare to believe it.
She said: “Except for my sisters and my boyfriend, I didn’t dare to share the news. I didn’t want to jinx it, you know, like how expectant mothers would usually keep mum about their pregnancy until they cross the first trimester?”
Qiu Qiu added: “I had to keep reminding myself to lower my expectation and not to get too excited.”
Until the night before the surgery – when she finally posted on her blog: “... Been affected by it for too long. Been waiting for good news.
“Been for consultation a few times. Been massaging myself for it.
“This is it. I am getting a boob job tomorrow.”
After the treatment, she experienced some discomfort but otherwise was not in pain. An eight-minute clip documenting the procedure was uploaded on clicknetwork.tv on Thursday evening.
Qiu Qiu is feeling ecstatic over her new assets and flaunting them unabashedly too.
She said: “That’s the highlight of my life so far. I can now wear a bikini and go down to the beach.
“I don’t have to carry an umbrella and pretend that I don’t like the sun.
“Do you know I can finally fill an A-cup bra now?”
Clinical pyschologist Lisa Wong cautioned against resorting to plastic surgery as a quick fix to attain physical beauty.
She said: “Most times, people find it easier – and quicker – to turn to such miracles of science for help.”
Obsessive
Pyschologist Richard Lim pointed out that there is “a difference between necessary and obsessive treatments”.
He said: “Everyone has his or her set of guidelines on what is perfect beauty, but often, this is influenced by what they see and read.”
Ms Wong, who has watched Qiu Qiu’s clip, said she could accept the blogger’s reasons for her desperation.
But she added: “That is only if she is satisfied with what has been done and stops just there.”
While the feedback from netizens has generally been positive and encouraging after the clip was posted, there are also the initial handful of critical views.
‘Anonymous’ wrote on her blog: “I liked you at first, for being very natural, unlike women these days that are so vain that they go for plastic surgery.
I thought that you weren’t going to be one of them but you are right now.”
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