Plastic Surgery in Korea

According to the poet John Keats, “Truth is beauty and beauty is truth.” But, what if that beauty was nothing more than a surgically enhanced illusion? Is the end result a lie or the truth?

The truth is that many of the stunningly beautiful people in Korea hold the secret to being beautiful: they paid for it. Stroll around the trendy neighborhood of Apkujong, and you’ll find a curiously high concentration of good-looking people. You’ll also find hundreds of clinics devoted to the lucrative industry of plastic surgery. There’s even an entire street nicknamed “Plastic surgery street”. Popular Korean magazines regularly run full page articles on various clinics and the procedures they perform. Recently, a magazine geared mainly towards women in their teens and twenties featured an extensive layout entitled “Winter vacation, Plastic operation”. Cosmetic surgery has been so hyped in the press that it’s been marketed right into mainstream acceptance.

The current statistics are hard to estimate, but after a search of the internet, one article claimed that about 50 percent of Korean women in their 20’s have undergone some kind of cosmetic operation. Many patients are high school students. Some get cosmetic surgery as a graduation present from their parents and some are doing it without their parents consent. Statistics also point to an ever increasing number of men opting for elective surgery. The popularity of plastic surgery in Korea is growing at a staggering rate. What’s fueling this phenomenon?

THE REASONS
The influence of the media is a contributing factor. Several Korean entertainers have publicly admitted to having their faces and bodies altered to please their fans. There’s even a website showcasing these celebrities before and after pictures. This public acknowledgement of vanity sends a subconscious message to impressionable fans that good looks, real or artificial, can win success and admiration. A big thing on the internet right now is a website where people send in their photos and readers vote on who has the best looking face or “ool-jjang”. Websites like this one are definitely keeping Seoul’s surgeons busy.

Many business people are also convinced that having a pleasant appearance gives them an edge in the workplace. Dr. Geun Lee, a cosmetic dermatologist based in Yongsan, says the majority of his clients are office workers and that in order to feel more confident and to show a better image to clients, people will come to his clinic for everything from hair regrowth treatments, to mole removal, acne scar correction, laser skin resurfacing, and botox injections. Even mature men are turning to surgery to get facelifts, hair transplants and eye-jobs to make them look younger and more virile. Due to the fierce competition to get jobs, some parents are even encouraging their children to have cosmetic work done in the same way they encourage them to study harder.


Others are compelled to have a nip, tuck and suck in order to increase the chances of finding a better partner. Biologically speaking, attractive people have increased chances of mating with the opposite sex due to the process of natural selection. People subconsciously and instinctively want to procreate with better looking partners to improve the gene pool of their prospective offspring. Unfortunately, what you see is not always what you get. In a sensational turn, one English language newspaper once published an article on a Korean man who was reported to have filed for a divorce after his wife gave birth to a baby that looked nothing like her. He claimed he had been duped by all her cosmetic surgery into thinking he was marrying someone with better genes.


The ubiquity of cosmetic surgery in Korea and it’s relatively low price has also made improving appearances more accessible to the general public. One doctor muses,” Cosmetic surgery is so popular in Korea because are so many doctors offering it. Usually demand governs supply; I believe in the case of cosmetic surgery, it is the supply that drives the demand. I’d also like to add that the doctors in Korea are the best in the world. We are meticulous, conscientious and are good with our hands. That’s why even people from Japan are coming here to go on cosmetic surgery holidays.”

THE PROCEDURES
Currently in Korea, cosmetic technology has made such advancements that most operations can be performed safely and successfully with less healing time and with a more subtle and effective result. The most popular procedure in Korea is the “double eyelid” operation to enlarge sleepy hooded eyes. Following a close second is the “nose job” which may or may not involve implanting a piece of silicone, gortex or bone to heighten the bridge of the nose. Jaw shaving, which makes the traditionally wide Korean face smaller, used to be a popular but dubious procedure. These days, doctors are injecting botox into the jaw to make the muscle smaller, hence shrinking the face. Another procedure which is gaining popularity is the butt implant. Though still in a semi-experimental phase, more and more women are requesting to have more bodacious curves in places where they typically didn’t exist before. Youthful skin is also very important to Koreans hence laser resurfacing, fat injections, peels and botox are also high in demand. A new mini face-lift procedure-called featherlift, lifts saggy skin with tiny threads. With it’s low downtime, featherlift is fast becoming one of the most popular anti-aging procedures. Liposuction is done so often, even dermatologists and gynecologists are doing it as a ‘lunchtime’ procedure.

It seems there’s nothing Korean surgeons won’t try. One glossy Hong Kong publication touted a procedure performed only in Korea where one gets poison injected into their calves to make the calf muscles atrophy. For those afflicted with thick calves syndrome (daikon calves) this is a blessing. “It’s a small price to pay to look good in these season’s designer shoes” the magazine extols.


THE RISKS
Because it’s becoming so commonplace in Korea, it’s tempting to think that changing one’s look via cosmetic surgery is as easy as changing the color of your hair. Unfortunately surgery holds risks ranging from bleeding, scarring, infections and not healing properly. There’s also a risk of not getting the desired result. In the hands of a careless money-grubbing chop-shop doctor, the consequences can be even more dire or disfiguring. In rare cases, people die.
There may also be psychological implications to having your appearance altered. Most doctors try to gage the mental health of their patients beforehand. Patients with realistic expectations and a fair level of self-esteem are the best candidates. One doctor states, 'I'm a plastic surgeon, not a psychologist. I can only improve what's on the outside.’
Despite the fact that the taboo surrounding cosmetic surgery has somewhat been lifted, people are still reluctant to admit they have had work done or want to have work done. Naturally there’s a risk of being perceived them as vain, fake, egocentric or unintelligent.
Perhaps the biggest risk of all is the impact of cosmetic surgery on Korean society. Korean people currently place so much emphasis on superficial appearance. One girl comments, “It's becoming ingrained in people's minds that unless they look good, they can never amount to anything. Shouldn't people be regarded for who they are and what they have achieved rather than what they appear to be?” Is cosmetic surgery, in fact, contributing to the burgeoning vanity of a previously pragmatic and innocent society?

In a completely spiritual and politically correct world, studying hard, working hard and valuing people for their intelligence or goodness should be enough to make it in life. But, despite people’s attempts to discount the importance superficial beauty, there’s just no denying that in Korea, as well as in most of the world, appearances and first impressions matter. The winner of a cosmetic surgery reality TV show says, "I always wanted to believe people were ultimately judged by what was inside but I knew from my personal experience that this wasn't true. It's always the pretty girls who win the good things in life." The conclusion is, until the day comes that people transcend caring about looks altogether, beauty will still remain a big business in Korea.