Venezuela's supply of beautiful women has always ballooned, but the South American country's ongoing shortage of breast implants has left its usually-robust chest augmentation industry all but deflated.

The market's deficiency of brand-name devices is encroaching on what has blossomed into an important part of the Venezuelan lifestyle, the boob job, according to the Daily Mail, which further reports beauty-obsessed women have become so desperate to maintain their appearances that doctors have begun using ill-fitting implants, as well as those made in China, where quality standards are notably less rigorous.

It was previously easy for Venezuelans to secure implants approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, but more recent government currency controls have many of the country's beauty-related outfits strapped for cash needed to import foreign products.

Surgeons throughout the socialist nation assert the shortage is gravely impacting the psyche of their female clients throughout Venezuela, long believed by many to be the birthplace of the most beautiful women in the world.

"The women are complaining," Ramon Zapata, president of the Society of Plastic Surgeons, told the Daily Mail. "Venezuelan women are very concerned with their self-esteem."

Said surgeon Daniel Slobodianik, it's actually "a culture of 'I want to be more beautiful than you.' That's why even people who live in the slums get implants."

Slobodianik says he used to perform several breast implants each week, but that number has shrunk to about two a month -- even as women call his office daily, asking if his practice carries the size they're looking for.

With Venezuela thought to have one of the highest plastic surgery rates on the planet, doctors there performed 85,000 breast implants here last year, according to statistics by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.

Only the U.S., Brazil, Mexico and Germany -- all with much larger larger populations -- saw more of the procedures.

Up until just recently, it was common, the Daily Mail story continued, for women to enter raffles for implants held by pharmacies, workplaces and even politicians on the campaign trail.

On the other hand, Venezuela's late President Hugo Chavez called the country's demand for plastic surgery a "monstrous" fixation and had criticized the common practice of giving girls implants for their 15th birthdays.

While a pair of implants approved by European regulators can cost as much as $600, which is approximately the same as an annual minimum wage there, the Chinese equivalent is typically for a third of that.

There are at least some Venezuelan doctors who refuse to use the Chinese implants, which are not subjected to random government inspections or clinical studies.

"I'm not saying they're not safe, but I've removed more than a few ruptured Chinese implants. I just don't feel comfortable with them," Slobodianik said.