Like a growing number of students in China, Pan Ou will spend her university vacation going under the knife in a plastic surgery procedure she hopes will boost her chances of getting a good job after graduation.

"I want to be more beautiful, to perfect myself," Pan, a student at one of China's most prestigious law schools, said in the waiting room of EverCare Xingfu hospital.

"My face is too big and flat, like all Asians. I would also like to make my nose higher," said the attractive 23-year-old.

An undated combination photograph of Hao Lulu shows her before (L) and after cosmetic surgery, which included facial reconstruction and nose reshaping, in Beijing. Rising incomes and perceptions that better looks secure better jobs and husbands have fuelled a boom for breast enlargement and other cosmetic remedies in recent years. State media have reported that Chinese people spend over $20 billion a year on altering their looks. [EverCare Medical Institute/Reuters]

The EverCare in Beijing is one of thousands of plastic surgery clinics mushrooming across China with promises to make patients more beautiful, more successful and more marriageable.

Photographs of women before and after surgery, accompanied by testimonials, are displayed on the clinic's walls. Pan's portrait may soon join them.

EverCare has agreed to give her free corrective surgery after a 10,000 yuan (US$1,200) breast reduction operation at another hospital left her with bad scarring and one breast larger than the other.

Pan hopes to also receive free operations to make her nose higher and sculpture her face, she said.

In return, she has agreed to allow the hospital to use her face for the next five years to promote its plastic surgeries.

"The finer details haven't been worked out, but they agreed they wouldn't use images of private parts of my body," she said.

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