Korean Plastic Surgery

If you get off the subway at the Apgujeong station in Seoul, the first thing to greet you when exiting the turnstiles is this advertisement:

As a woman, am I supposed to fit that shape if I stand in front of that mirror?  Not likely.

I took a picture of this subway advertisement in Seoul way back in March.  I didn't quite understand... it is advertising that you can change the shape of your face?  And if so, who does that?  Turns out, that is exactly what it is advertising and Koreans do that!

Walk through the Apgujeong station and you'll see life-size poster advertisements on every wall showing before and after pictures of people who have "improved their looks" with plastic surgery done by the cosmetic surgeons on the streets above the station.   Almost all of the posters show a change to the shape of the face, eyes, or nose.

   

   

      

Koreans, in general, are very concerned with their looks.  Young women will wear short mini skirts and heels despite freezing weather in the winter because it's more attractive than pants and boots.  Koreans spend a lot of money on clothing, accessories, make-up/skin products, and plastic surgery in the quest to look good.  Plastic surgery seems to be almost an obsession here in Korea.  While searching for information about this, I found an interesting news video titled Why are Koreans so into their Looks? which shed some light onto the subject.

This CNN report (article and video), Plastic surgery boom as Asians seek 'western' look, is worth watching for a shocker.  It features a 12-year-old Korean girl who had eyelid surgery.  It wasn't the girl's idea, it was her mother's!  "I'm having her do it," says Jang, "because I think it'll help her. This is a society where you have to be pretty to get ahead. She's my only daughter."  Wow.  She's 12.  In the video, the reporter is standing in the Apgujeong district of Seoul saying that it is the "plastic surgery capital of Asia".  From realself.com: "The Apgujeong district in Seoul is already famous for it's ubiquitous plastic surgery clinics. These clinics use aggressive advertising and promotion to get patients in the door."  The aggressive advertising is certainly evident in the subway.

This NTD news video, Where Only the Beautiful and Handsome Can Survive, discusses how young adults view their personal appearance to be more important than their qualifications when applying for jobs.  More and more Korean women and men are getting plastic surgery with the hopes that it will help them land a good job.

The most popular cosmetic surgeries here in Korea are the double eyelid surgery to create an upper eyelid crease making the eyes appear larger, rhinoplasty to change the shape of the nose, and cheek and jaw surgery to change the shape of the face.  In contrast, the most popular cosmetic surgeries in the United States are liposuction, rhinoplasty, and breast augmentation.

double eyelid surgery:

rhinoplasty:

cheek and jaw surgery:

Here in Korea, there are a lot of beautiful people and the women seem to age very well (at least until their late 60's).  However after learning about the prevalence of plastic surgery in this country, I'm starting to wonder how many of those people really are natural beauties and really are just aging gracefully?  This also makes me wonder that if a guy marries a girl who is beautiful because of surgery, what will they think when they have a daughter who looks like mom's "before" picture?  Maybe they'll gift her some plastic surgery at age 12 also.

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"Money can't buy you happiness

but it can pay for the plastic surgery."

~Joan Rivers