Brazil is having a face lift.

As one of the Bric (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries Brazil wants to present a new face to the world. It happens to be doing it in the most dramatic way possible - a new wave of cosmetic surgery is sweeping the land. This epidemic, and this is not too strong a word in having a major impact mainly on women. Even the poor are enjoying this new experience by taking out loans and using their credit cards. Some are able to get it free on the Public Health Service. Most claim that they are wanting a perfect beach body, or to enhance the chances of getting a better job. However there has also been a dramatic increase in other operations like changing the shape of the nose to look less "black". Brazil is a multi-ethnic country that is highly stratified, and being black is at the bottom of this society. Although some may argue this is what choice is all about, others have suggested that Brazil is still gripped by its past, and these cosmetic changes are only skin deep. See all this in graphic detail on Channel 4 in Unreported World.