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So you’re a cosmetic surgeon looking to hang your shingle … somewhere in the middle east.

It’s a tough market -- particularly, say, Iran where religion dictates women can be heard but not seen … an Islamic coverall would tend to deal a nip-and-tuck beauty specialist out of business.

Not so … Tehran is looking a little l.a. with every passing fashion season.

Mark Corcoran goes where the nose is going -- With a word of warning for the squeamish.

Music

00:00

Tehran Montage

Corcoran: There’s another revolution now underway in Iran - one that would have the Great Ayatollah Khomeni spinning in his mausoleum.

00:10

Music

00:18

Corcoran: A revolt that has set this once monochrome world ablaze with colour. An unofficial relaxation of the women’s dress code, a bid by the ruling mullahs to placate growing calls for political and social reform.

00:24

To western eyes this may not appear to be such a big deal, but until very recently anything less than the billowing ankle length chador was likely to incur the wrath of the religious police. Now with the mullahs prepared to avert their gaze, Tehran’s women have seized upon the ultimate fashion accessory – the nose job.

00:42

And they’re everywhere – proudly wearing their post-operative bandages like designer labels.

01:02

DR. MAGID

Super:

Dr. Magid Navab

Plastic Surgeon

Corcoran: As a Tehran plastic surgeon how is business?

Dr Magid: The business is very good – flourishing I should say.

01:10

Iranian Women

Music

01:18

Dr. Magid

Corcoran: So why do Iranian women have a problem with their noses?

Dr Magid: Why? The reason is probably genetic as I said, because they have a little bit bigger nose than usual, the other nations' populations.

01:25

Tehran Streets

Music

01:44

Corcoran: The grim grey housing projects – home to Tehran’s middle class struggling with a stalled economy and massive unemployment. 18-year old Aida – like so many of her generation dreams of escape to a brighter world.

01:52

Aida

Aida: I hope I can go to university to study computers –so that I can find a job…and then? (laugh)

02:09

Corcoran: Behind the chadors and concrete exists a very different Iran – a society passionate about beauty and colour. And with the country full of highly qualified but unemployed youth, Aida is convinced that beauty will be her passport to a better life.

02:23

Aida: I think beauty is the most important thing for a young woman.

02:43

Corcoran: She’s decided her chief asset needs a touch up and has booked in for a nose job.

02:56

Aida: I think I will become more beautiful - I feel the bump here is ugly - and a little bit in here.

03:01

Corcoran: Her mother Farrah – remains far from convinced.

03:13

Farrah

Farrah: There’s not much time left - tell us if you’ve changed your mind.

Aida: No, I haven’t changed my mind - I’m just scared.

Farrah: See how pretty you are - you don’t need an operation.

03:16

Farrah: I think she doesn’t need it - she’s getting it for no reason.

Aida: No it will be better isn’t that right dad? (19)

Ali: Whatever you want.

03:27

Corcoran: While father Ali has decided it’s best never to argue with a teenage daughter.

03:32

Ali

Ali: I was initially opposed to it because it is like fixing broken bones, it’s not right, then her own view was important I also spoke to the doctor and he said it will be great if she has the operation we follow Aida’s opinion.

03:37

Plastic Surgeon's signs

Music

04:07

Corcoran: In up-market North Tehran more than a hundred plastic surgeons now promise eternal youth and a smaller nose.

04:15

Dr. Magid

Dr Magid: This one is exaggerating – it consider me – my work as Michelangelo – but working in human being – not stone.

04:29

Corcoran: Dr. Magid Navab - ‘The Michelangelo of Tehran’ to grateful patients who sing his praises through the poetry of Hafiz and Omar Kayam. And the master doesn’t come cheap.

04:42

Dr Magid: There is no price for it – like a painting you want to buy it. You have a famous well known painter you have to pay high for it.

04:54

Corcoran: Trained in New York and Paris he charges $3,000 US dollars a nose – while newer doctors ask only $300 a job.

05:10

Expensive for locals but a bargain for expatriate Iranians who flock home from London and Sydney for the family reunion/nose job package tour.

05:22

Dr Magid: I have something like 80% of my clientele my patients are coming from overseas. London, Paris – even from Australia – I have the patients who come from Australia here.

05:36

Corcoran: Today’s patient comes from just down the street. Despite last minute nerves – Aida is determined to go ahead.

05:56

Aida

Aida: No I’m not regretting it - but I’m a little scared of the operation.

06:05

Aida & Dr. Magid

Music

06:13

Corcoran: To the strains of classical music, this Michelangelo goes to work. It's a familiar task -- since returning to Iran 12 years ago he’s seen more than 18,000 patients. For the uninitiated, plastic surgery may conjure up gentle images of a nip here, a tuck there.

06:25

But a nose job is a brutal affair – much closer to Michelangelo’s stone masonry than you’d think. A beautiful result – perhaps – but certainly not beautiful to watch.

06:51

Dr Magid: Here – you have the new profile.

07:04

Retail Fashion

Music

07:07

Corcoran: As Aida retires for her recovery week, North Tehran’s boutiques open for another evening of retail therapy.

07:12

Saleswoman: Usually these days, in terms of clothes - it’s clothes made from snakeskin. New designs and colours have just arrived and also women like short jackets with straight trousers because it complies with hejab and is easy to wear.

07:20

Corcoran: But a closer inspection reveals this beauty boom is built upon a foundation of insecurity -- so familiar in the west. According to Dr. Magid, in this poor, socially conservative country a woman is still largely defined by the man she marries.

07:41

Dr Magid: They want to look good – they want to attract people – but they don’t have money. That’s what's happened, so they try to grab somebody who provide them this money.

07:59

Dr. Magid

They start to go out with the settled man – the older man.

Corcoran: The married man?

Dr Magid: A married man. (smiles) Exactly. And this again is another conflict.

08:14

Corcoran: The rush for teenage nose jobs is now matched by queues of middle-aged wives anxiously lining up for face-lifts.

08:28

Dr Magid: Many families broken, their families broken because of these problems in society.

08:37

Magid's House

Music

08:43

Corcoran: Dr. Magid insists we join him for an evening at home with his wife and friends. For a glimpse into his own private world. A piece of neo-classical Europe in the heart of the Islamic Republic.

08:55

He’s also proud of his art – the mullahs don’t like it – but why, he argues, should admiring beauty be against the wishes of God?

09:13

Dr Magid: This is 17^th century painting – Italian artist.

Corcoran: And the features of the face of the woman, are they the classical features that you aspire to in your work?

Dr Magid: At one period they liked a little bit chubby – a little bit fuller woman – but now for instance they like lean.

09:25

Corcoran: We’re joined by Aida and her parents – who it turns out are Dr. Magid’s cousins.

09:59

Corcoran: And speaking of beauty – how is Aida going?

Dr Magid: She’s doing very well. See she’s got a good profile – even in the cast.

10:10

Corcoran: Tomorrow Aida’s new nose will be unveiled and her family is far too nervous to enjoy the evening.

10:19

Magid's Surgery.

Dr Magid: It's okay. All right. That's it. This is for you.

10:32

Corcoran: If beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder – Aida doesn’t like what she sees. A normal reaction says Dr. Magid. She needs to reserve judgement for a few days until the swelling goes down. But her mother is already impressed.

10:54

Farrah: Oh my God! How beautiful you look my darling. Thank you doctor. She’s become really very beautiful. So beautiful (laughs)

Ali: Thank you Doctor.

11:10

Corcoran: Ali and Farrah are relieved. To them it’s been a good investment in Aida’s future. Even if it means replacing the rigid conformity of hejab with what can be the equally inflexible concept of western beauty.

11:32

Credits:

Iranian Beauty:

Reporter: Mark Corcoran

Camera: Geoff Clegg

Sound: Kate Graham

Editor: Garth Thomas

11:50