The Effects Of Plastic Surgery On South Korea

Smith focuses on Koreans’ desire to achieve or acquire Caucasian like features. He examines South Korean history in order to uncover the reasons why plastic surgery became so important in South Korean culture. He also explains the benefits of having an attractive appearance not only for social purposes but also for work.

In South Korea, specifically Seoul are filled with plastic surgery clinics causing the country to becomes the world’s highest rate in cosmetic/plastic surgery . When visiting a clinic, most women’s ideal image would be K-Pop idols,generally, the common factors are double eyelids, v-line face, and slim body. It has been estimated that one out of five South Korean women has had cosmetic work done, compared to about one in 20 American women, according to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons. In 2013, American approximately spend $12 billion on cosmetic surgery whereas in South Korea, the price is roughly $7.5 million even with a mass amount of clients, all stated by Chang and Thompson, ABC News. The reason being is simply because “in South Korea, each surgery only ranges from $2,000 to $4-5,000” said Choi, a foreign client who comes to South Korea to undergo plastic surgery. Nowadays, not only adults but teenagers are also eligible to undergo surgery with parental consent. Adults tend to have plastic surgery to stand out from others while most teens want to fit in with peers. According to American Society of Plastic Surgeons statistics, 63,623 cosmetic surgical procedures were performed on people age 13-19 in 2013 according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. However, not all surgeries is for cosmetic reasons. In

These interviews and surveys would be conducted in Korean with all information pertaining to my research written in Hangul. I will give the willing participant time to ask questions about my research and why I am conducting it to build a relationship with participants in order to receive honest answers. Interview will be conducted before procedures and follow up interviews will be done two weeks, one month, six months, and 12 months after plastic surgery to see any changing feelings towards plastic surgery and the affects it had on the participants’ daily life. All interviews and surveys will be conducted with participant confidentiality in mind. All interviews and surveys are hoped to be repeated with entertainment companies and the use of surveys will also be done in universities and recruiting companies. Although high school surveys and interviews would be ideal, I would need permission from school boards and parents to conduct research. If the school boards and parents say no, this could finder my ability to understand the affects of plastic surgery on the youngest members of my research group, and possibly cause me to have to change my research age demographic. All data collected will be complied into groups according to place collected and will be compared by city and

“Kingdom of Plastic” is a fitting name for South Korea where one out of five women have admitted to having some sort of cosmetic surgery procedure. Most Asian countries, including South Korea, have very specific criterias for judging if a person is beautiful. Common beauty expectations for both males and females are high noses, big eyes, and narrow chins. Due to the nature of an Asian bone structure, it is highly unlikely that the previously mentioned beauty standards will occur naturally within a body. Many turn to the growing trend of plastic surgery to achieve an aesthetically pleasing face. South Korea is the world’s capital in plastic surgery, and people from all over the world, especially from other Asian countries, visit to receive cosmetic procedures.

In fact, their looks have already begun to change the standard of beauty in South Korea. Many K-pop stars have gotten cosmetic surgery and even are spokespeople for such companies (Stone). With celebrities advertising perfect faces, many people are inspired to get surgery as well. This has made South Korea into the plastic surgery capital of the world, with at least one-fifth of the women population who have had some form of cosmetic surgery (Stone; Marx). Thus, K-pop has set the image of beauty in the hearts of their

Kim Kardashian is the face and body of plastic surgery, literally. Unfortunately, society has come to target the people with a weak self esteem and those who see themselves with horrible “imperfections.” Nowadays there are certain expectations on appearance that drive people to receive plastic surgery. There are an immense amount of positive outlooks on plastic surgery, those regarding the enhancement of physical appearance and psychological states of mind. This is not always the case plastic surgery does not always grant the wonderful outcomes that the patient expects. Plastic surgery could come with major risks that are not only extremely dangerous but life-changing too. Plastic surgery has negative effects such as the damages it causes physically, psychologically, and within society.

Pressure in both the Starters, and in South Korea, is thrusted upon individuals to ‘perfect’ themselves. 19 year old Lim, a translator on Korean TV, felt the need to have surgery done on her jaw and nose, “‘I guess everyone wants to look like K-pop models,’

According to an article published by Seoul Touchup, https://www.seoultouchup.com/korean-plastic-surgery-statistics/, rhinoplasty is the second most common cosmetic procedure performed in Korea. In addition to the Korean population, the country’s plastic surgeons provide procedures to nearly 300,000 tourists a year. The majority of foreigners that travel to Korea for rhinoplasty and other aesthetic surgeries come from China, America, Russia, Japan, and Mongolia. Women represent 72% of the patients and men represent 28%.

Though South Korea is not number one in the world in terms of overall consumption of plastic surgery, they do take that spot for plastic surgery rates per capita (Lee S. H., 2016). Statistics say that around 20 percent of the population has gotten plastic surgery, but the real percentage is most likely higher since clinics are not regulated very well and many procedures remain unlisted (Elfving-Hwang, 2012). Although common, many clinics do not document it when they give customers discounts for paying

Beauty can be a powerful entity for humans to manipulate and mutilate their outward appearances through cultures for social status and re-identification. Thus, the purpose for aesthetic alteration and modification have become much more common in our current fluctuated society that we live in and Korea is no exception to this. It is undoubtable that the popularity of cosmetic surgery have drastically increased, particularly in South Korea where culture trends rapidly shift, a nation ranked first for their advanced methods of cosmetic surgery all over the world. This ‘Republic of Cosmetic Surgery’ has been titled as the nation providing over 130 types of cosmetic surgery, including from simple treatments such as Botox, fillers and double-eyelid to high-risk procedures of orthognathic surgery and breast augmentations yet, the types of cosmetic surgery sought by women are ‘racially specific’.

The surge in social media websites, movies, TV shows, and advertisements that display high beauty standards have led to the popularity of plastic surgery in young people. These sources affect the body-related outcomes such as investment in appearance and appearance-changing strategies among youth which can trigger for an emotional perfectionism (Vries et al 283). The appearance pressure among peers during the adolescent period could cause a significant impact on both parent and child, and for this reason, the urge for plastic surgery has become a trend nowadays. Consequently, by analyzing the existing research of the risks and benefits of the surgery procedures, the studies have sparked a debate on whether teenagers should be getting plastic surgery or not. Plastic surgery with parental consent should be permitted to all young adults because most of it is done to rectify physical deformities, to improve psychological health, but it should be limited to essential conditions.

The subject of plastic surgery in America is still a taboo since it attributes to the idea of being ‘unnatural’ and a ‘plastic monster’. Most popular surgeries in the country include eye lifts, liposuction, and breast enlargements. Those who have gotten these procedures are likely to keep what they have had done in order to not be shamed by others who may not support artificially changing one’s appearance. Many people may know that South Korea is known as the plastic surgery capital of the world. Plastic surgery was once a major taboo in Korea, where those who have gotten it done would be looked down upon on by family and friends and be ostracized by society, but now the pursuit of perfection has made cosmetic surgery much more popular and open to the public. About one in five women in Korea would have some kind of plastic surgery done, and many neighborhoods and subway stations are lined with advertisements and billboards to promote clinics by showing before and after photos (Graham, “Popular Surgery Shrouded in Shame“). In my experience of living in South Korea for a few months, I did notice that there were many cosmetic surgery advertisements in certain districts of Seoul. In those areas, I would typically see women’s faces all bandaged up from those procedures that got done and they wouldn’t care if people judged.

The people of South Korea have a strong connection to plastic surgery which is evident by its usage among both women and men. According to a statistics website called nationmaster.com about 20% of the Korean population have had some kind work done on them. It is estimated that women between the ages of 20 and 50 years old underwent the knife for some reason, be it eyelid surgery or a nose job. While the act of cosmetic surgery mainly occurs in women, it has estimated that about 44% of college men think about getting plastic surgery at some point in their lives (nationmaster.com). In 2010 the number of Korean men who had cosmetic surgery was around 15% based on the Korean Association for Plastic Surgeons estimations. Any attempts to explain the high popularity of cosmetic surgery in South Korea mostly frames it in two ways: 1) Koreans have the desire to look more like white people or 2) according to feminists it is the continued subjection of women to patriarchal ideas. (Kim 2009). However, this is a very limited way of explaining why plastic surgery is so important to in South Korea because the issue is more complex than that. The plastic surgery world of South Korea shows a struggle between what they believe is beautiful, what the world and social status believes is beautiful, and what their culture believes is beautiful.

Moreover, plastic surgery is an expensive procedure ranging up to $6,000 or more. It can put tremendous financial pressure on patient and their family. While assessing the cost of the surgery, people tend to forget the cost of the postoperative medication. And sometimes, people have to pay for a secondary surgeries because of dissatisfaction with results. Most insurance policies do not pay for elective procedures such as plastic surgery. Other disadvantage of plastic surgery is that it is time-consuming. Patients must plan time off to recuperate enough to return to work and daily activities. Lastly, dead can be caused by plastic surgery. The bigger the procedure, the higher the risk of complication should be aware of, for instance, infection, hematoma, allergic reactions and many more. Many celebrities have died from plastic surgery like Solange Magnano, Donda West. Though death caused by plastic surgery are rare, the possibility of death cannot be ruled out. The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) has reported that within more than 400,000 operations, which performed in accredited facilities, the death rate was 57,000 cases- extremely low. Nevertheless, we can be one of that 57,000 cases.

South Korea, known as the world's capital of plastic surgery, is highly-image conscious. It is known that even scoring a job sometimes depends on how attractive you are. South Korea's major aspects on plastic surgery include how it became so popular, the impact of America's beauty standards on Koreas, and the reason as to why plastic surgery is so looked upon by both women and men of all ages. Plastic surgery holds a great extent of meaning to the people of South Korea.