Selfies are paving the way for a plastic surgery boom in China.

According to a new report from HSBC, China’s social media and selfie obsessions are creating a new Chinese vanity craze and a market for cosmetic surgery, with sales to Chinese consumers poised to double to 800 billion yuan ($122 billion) by 2019, up from 400 billion yuan in 2014.

China is set to become the industry’s third-largest market in the world, behind the U.S. and Brazil, according to China’s Association of Plastics and Aesthetics, which said that around 7 million Chinese people paid for enhancement procedures in 2014. Around 60,000 of them had their procedures done in South Korea-- the plastic surgery headquarters in Asia -- up 45% from the year before, the association said.

The smartphone market is fueling the industry's growth, HSBC said. In recent years, Chinese consumers have latched onto smartphone apps -- like Meiren Xiangji or BeautyPlus -- that offer virtual plastic surgery features, such as enhancing photos by plumping cheeks, widening eyes or slimming jawbones. Those have been the gateways to other apps, such as GengMei, that match users to a market of plastic surgeons who can help their doctored pictures come to life.

“The pursuit of physical beauty has become big business in China,” HSBC analysts said in the report.

A screenshot from the website for Gengmei, a Chinese smartphone app that links users with plastic surgery clinics. Illustration: Gmei.com

An entire Chinese beauty enhancement ecosystem is emerging. Plastic surgery clinics and enhancement parlors--serving as one-stop shops for Botox shots and facial fillers-- are popping up all over cities like Beijing and Shanghai. Korean doctors who see the market potential are already starting Korean-Chinese joint ventures in China.

Homegrown Chinese injection makers--like Shanghai Haohai Biological Technology Co. and Bloomage BioTech--are also becoming big businesses, selling to consumers who would rather have a quick lunch-time shot to fill wrinkles than go under the knife, HSBC said.

The Chinese market is still largely in its infancy and is filled with smuggled and illegal products, HSBC said. An estimated 50,000-100,000 beauty salons now illegally perform procedures, it said. But the government is expected to step in and heighten regulation as the market grows, HSBC said.

--Laurie Burkitt. Follow her on Twitter @lburkitt.