A Japanese mother has come under fire for having her 9-year-old daughter undergo double eyelid surgery in order to become more beautiful.

In Japan, plastic surgery is legal for anyone under the age of 18, as long as they have the consent of their parents or a legal guardian, and according to a recent report by VICE Asia, some parents are actually encouraging their children to undergo cosmetic procedures in order to enhance their physical appearance. In a recent episode of its “Deadly Beauty” series, the online magazine featured Rucchi and Micchi, a Japanese mother-daughter duo whose YouTube channel focuses on makeup and plastic surgery. In order to help her 9-year-old daughter become more beautiful, Rucchi had her undergo a blepharoplasty operation, aka double eyelid surgery.

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“A girl needs double eyelids,” Rucchi can be heard saying in the VICE video. “I have never seen a girl with monolids who I thought was pretty. Double eyelids are beautiful. Double eyelids are the beauty standard. I say this again and again.”

The woman said that ever since she herself was a little girl, she knew that monolids were considered ugly. Every time she and her sister walked through the neighborhood, her sibling always received compliments on her big, beautiful eyes, while she was simply ignored because of her monolids. She underwent a double eyelid surgery when she was 18, but the childhood memories stuck with her, and she wanted to give her daughter an early advantage.

Rucchi paid $2,850 for her young daughter’s surgery, which required getting a surgical cut on the creases of her eyelids and trimming the sagging skin. It was supposed to take only around 20 minutes, but due to complications, the 9-year-old girl ended up spending around 2 hours on the operating table.

 

As for Micchi, the 9-year-old told VICE that she went through with the surgery because people always told her that her eyes were “narrow, so it looked like I was glaring at people”. Still, she claims that her life hasn’t really changed since she had the blepharoplasty.

Rucchi, on the other hand, said that people always compliment her daughter and tell her that she looks much cuter now. The Japanese mother added that she wants Micchi to also have a nose job at some point, and if she ever because insecure about her chest size, she would encourage her to undergo breast augmentation as well.

Rucchi’s stance on plastic surgery for her young daughter has attracted quite a lot of criticism, both from the general public, and from experts who claim that parents like her project their own insecurities onto their children.