Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A Beijing judge requested that Angelababy's face be examined to certify its authenticity

A top Chinese actress has had her face examined as part of a high-profile legal case in China, local media report.

Actress Angelababy is suing a clinic for defamation after it alleged she had plastic surgery done on her face.

Doctors who examined her on Thursday said that her looks were genuine.

It came a week after her widely-publicised wedding to actor Huang Xiaoming, who has defended her, saying she "sometimes looks quite ugly".

A Beijing judge had suggested that her face be examined by medical professionals to certify its authenticity.

The 26-year-old actress, whose real name is Yeung Wing, went through a series of X-ray scans and tests - which at one stage involved a doctor prodding her face - at a plastic surgery hospital in the capital on Thursday. She was accompanied by notaries public and several journalists.

Hospital chief Qi Zuoliang later pronounced her looks to be genuine. "Baby's entire head and facial bones do not have any signs of incisions," he told reporters, using a popular abbreviation of the actress' stage name.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The actress has been dogged by rumours of plastic surgery for years

News of her examination dominated discussion on Chinese social network Sina Weibo on Thursday, with many of her fans expressing support.

Angelababy, who first shot to fame as a model and actress in Hong Kong, has long been dogged by rumours that she had plastic surgery, with pictures purportedly showing her natural face circulating online in recent years.

She is suing Beijing beauty clinic Ruili for carrying an article on its website in 2012 alleging that she had plastic surgery, and is seeking 500,000 yuan (£51,000; $79,000) in compensation.

She has insisted that her unique looks come from her European heritage - her paternal grandfather was German.

Angelababy married Huang last Thursday in one of the biggest and most lavish celebrity weddings China had seen, which reportedly cost 200 million yuan (£20.3m; $31.5m).

Huang has previously defended the actress, saying in a 2014 interview: "Actually she sometimes looks quite ugly to me."

"I'm not an idiot, I definitely can tell she hasn't had plastic surgery, sometimes she doesn't put on make up and she really looks like those ugly pictures of her."