THE 20-year-old actress Ny Monineath, well known for her teary roles both in movies and on stage, shows off her beauty from one day to the next to a host of admirers.

And for her, beauty has included recently having her nose changed through scientific surgery to make it look symmetric with her attractive round face and it is said whitening her naturally brown skin. Although she denies the skin-whitening process, she has a startling new appearance.

In this era of advanced technology giving someone a pointed nose, long chin, a round or oval face is a reality as people look to their own perceived sense of beauty. You can now change your face’s shape, skin’s colour and many other parts of the body from its natural state to be more attractive and make you look younger than you are.

With such technology, beauty surgery is not only in high demand for some stars in Asian nations such as Thailand, South Korea and Japan, but also for their counterparts in Cambodia.

For example, karaoke performer Vang Srey No had her breasts enlarged and made her face longer; Soeu Sotheara underwent nose surgery before her marriage; and sexy-widow actress Chhith Socheata also decided a larger bosom was the answer she was seeking, something popular among many women in Asia’s art sector.

The culture of beauty surgery has immensely influenced Cambodian actresses, and though some of them appear reluctant to unveil their secrets many others told us they are interested in having such surgery and to many different parts of their body, ranging from the top of their heads to the tips of their toes.

But there are two problems, the cost and the fact that with surgery using scalpels, cutting and needles it is not thought 100 percent safe for health reasons, and many do not risk having it done.

However, the existing facial pumping, breast enlarging and chin extending surgery has already caught the attention of Cambodian youths, especially those in the art sector, where beauty has far more advantages than their talent on the road as a performer or singer.

But stars who deserve their success such as Ny Monineath also appear to have begun to transform their body and facial shape with such surgery.

Many audience members and viewers who saw her performance recently on CTN’s “Sunday’s Music Program”, were surprised with her new appearance with pointed nose, white skin and fitted body.

But Ny Monineath claimed that the reason she looked more beautiful than before was because she had a regular diet and exercised with traditional methods at home with her mother.

She said she was not fond of beauty surgery because it might harm her health in the future.

In a recent interview with her, Ny Monineath strongly rejected claims about having surgery, saying she didn’t undergo it on any parts of her body, but even those not so familiar with her can see clearly her nose certainly looks much different from before as does her pale skin.

At first she insisted her nose and facial shape was natural and original and she didn’t have surgery.

She said her sand-like white skin was not the result of going to any beauty salons, but just because she applied some types of facial cream every night before bed.

But later she admitted she had had nose surgery although still denied the skin whitening ,saying it was the result of cream not surgery.

Ny Monineath said that she didn’t want others to realise she had undergone an operation because she was afraid of criticism, but said because her face played such an important role in her career she decided on surgery.

The actress said she would not enlarge her breasts or undergo any more surgery.

Her mother, Mrs Sophealy, said her daughter had undergone nose surgery at a local clinic, but also denied any surgery had been done relating to her daughter’s body, face and chin as claimed by others.

“Neath has undergone her nose surgery, but not other parts of her body because of safety reasons. Her white skin and tight body is the result of her regular exercise and cream application, just as she said,” said Mrs Sophealy.