African beauty: Why women account for 88 per cent of cosmetic surgeries

One Saturday morning last month, nearly 100 people gathered at a complex in Gigiri, Nairobi, to grace the launch of Avane Plastic Surgery Hospital (APSH), a facility exclusively dedicated to plastic surgery and aesthetics.

A glance at the crowd revealed an unmistakable fact: the majority of the attendees, arguably drawn from the neighbouring affluent suburbs, were women. For every two men, there appeared to be eight women.

Perhaps it was a coincidence. However, the gender disparity reflected a recent study showing that 87.6 per cent, nearly nine in every 10, plastic surgery procedures in Kenya are performed on women.

Titled Assessing the Practice of Aesthetic Surgery in Kenya, the study involved 105 patients from a pool of 500 who had undergone aesthetic surgery between January 2021 and December 2022. Nearly all the participants, 97 per cent, were Kenyan citizens.

Beauty ideals

The lead researchers, Dr Evans Masitara, Dr Adan Abdullahi and Prof Stanley Khainga, all plastic surgeons, concluded that Kenyans seeking cosmetic procedures want to enhance features deemed characteristic of African beauty, particularly voluptuousness: the quality of being curvaceous. “Typically, a Kenyan woman wants to have larger hips relative to her waist and a fuller bust relative to her abdomen. It is the so-called hourglass figure. Some women naturally have this body type. Typically, these women receive the most praise for their beauty in society. Therefore, the natural drive is for other women to want to look like them,” noted Dr Pranav Pancholi, CEO and cosmetic dermatologist at APSH.

Among the attendees was Anne Mwaura, a radio presenter and social media influencer. She is set to undergo breast augmentation any day now.

Anne has already attended her initial consultation and medical assessment. If her body is deemed fit for the procedure, she could undergo surgery at any time.

“I want to move from an A-cup to a C- or D-cup. I am doing this for me. I love my body and my beauty. But having a C-cup will make me feel even better.”

The study was premised on the noticeable and documented global explosion of aesthetic surgery in recent years. “While aesthetic surgery has historically been associated with more developed countries in the Global North and emerging markets in Asia, the World Health Organisation (WHO) Africa Region is reporting an increase in aesthetic surgery uptake, with various institutions offering aesthetic procedures,” the researchers note.

Indeed, cosmetic surgery is now an established reality in Kenya, embraced by many high-fliers, from socialites to the uber-rich.

Celebrity influence

Perhaps one of the most famous examples involves Vera Sidika, the self-styled socialite and entrepreneur. In 2014, Vera travelled to the United Kingdom, according to her own account, to undergo skin-lightening treatment. She said she spent EUR£100,000 (Sh15 million at the time).

“Looking good is my business,” she said in an interview with a local television station.

She also proudly stated that being light-skinned had yielded financial benefits and that she was in high demand for her services.

Fast forward to September 2025 and Vera had undergone another procedure. This time, it was on her breasts. At an elaborately choreographed event, she unveiled “the twins”. “I know this sounds crazy: who does a boob party? But for other women who have had children, it’s not easy. Pregnancy is a journey. Your body changes. When you get the chance to make the best of your body after having children, you go for it. Don’t let anyone shame you. You love yourself; that’s why you’re fixing yourself. You want to feel better about yourself. That’s my motto and I have always lived by it,” she said at the event.

She also revealed that it was her second breast augmentation procedure, the first having been done in 2014 to complement her curves.

Body transformations

Another Kenyan whose story made rounds on social and mainstream media is content creator Lydia Wanjiru. Lydia went under the knife to give herself larger buttocks and wider hips.

Speaking to the BBC, she narrated how her body had been a source of discomfort.

“I was apple-shaped: I was bigger from my waist upwards compared to my waist downwards. I struggled to dress that body. I would put on a dress and the way it sat on my body was not the same way it looked in the picture used by the shop selling it.”

Lydia underwent a Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL), a procedure that combines liposuction (fat harvesting from one part of the body) and fat transfer to reshape and increase the volume of the buttocks.

According to the study, the fact that more women than men seek cosmetic surgery in Kenya is consistent with global statistics and the broader societal pressure women face to conform to prevailing beauty standards. The study also concluded that the scope of aesthetic surgery practice in Kenya is comparable to that in the rest of the world.

Beyond gender

Gender was not the only factor determining the likelihood of seeking a cosmetic procedure. The researchers write: “This could likely be a result of greater financial stability and increased concern about age-related appearance changes. Similarly, urban populations are more likely to seek cosmetic surgery, given their better access to services, stronger exposure to global beauty standards and reduced stigma around aesthetic enhancement.”

Cosmetic surgery cannot be discussed in Kenya without addressing safety concerns. In June 2018, June Wanza Mulupi, a mother of three, underwent breast augmentation at Surgeoderm Healthcare Limited. She died from sepsis resulting from complications following the procedure, which was allegedly performed by an unqualified doctor.

In October 2024, Lucy Ng’ang’a, the wife of a Nairobi businessman, died after undergoing a liposuction procedure at a private clinic operating under the name Body by Design.

Liposuction involves the extraction of fat from specific parts of the body to achieve a more sculpted appearance. It is commonly performed on the abdomen, thighs, hips and back.

Before undergoing a BBL, Lydia Wanjiru was alive to the safety concerns, noting that she “researched extensively, visiting and consulting three specialists to be sure about my safety”.

It was only after satisfying herself that both the doctor and hospital were properly equipped that she proceeded with the surgery.

Dr Shaban Said, Director of Plastic Surgery at APSH, said that a patient’s own research could make the difference between a successful and a botched outcome. “When something goes wrong, it is usually because the facility failed to follow strict ethical, medical and legal guidelines required of a medical practitioner. “It is, therefore, important that a patient considering a cosmetic procedure begins with the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC) to establish that both the hospital and the doctor are licensed to perform the procedure,” he said.

The study, published in June 2025 in the Pan-African Journal of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, found that the most common procedures performed in Kenya were abdominoplasty (tummy tuck), followed by liposuction, mastopexy, breast augmentation and Brazilian Butt Lift.

The other procedures, in descending order of prevalence, were hair transplantation, penile enlargement, brachioplasty, leg augmentation, lip augmentation, vaginoplasty and rhinoplasty (nose job).