The Impact Of Hallyu On Korean Plastic Surgery Industry

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.

These modern day people feel the need to try and fit into the western culture, even Asian American, so desperate they are willing to go under a knife to fit into the mold. For example, in the New York Time, author Patricia Marx highlighted, “Many dispute the notion that Korean plastic surgery today emulates a Western aesthetic, pointing out, for example, that big eyes are universally considered appealing and that pale skin connotes affluence.” This is essential because western culture have a major impact on the Asian American community that brought the changes in cosmetic surgery to Korea influences the change among Asian to transform into “American” literally. Having blepharoplasty, rhinoplasty, shaving down their jaw lines just to name a few Asian American is doing this cosmetic surgery to become what Asian American community considered being a true American. Because within today society, everyone wants to fit it, and for Asian American to accomplish the western culture would be reconstructing their features to becoming a Western American so they can blend into American society.

Plastic surgery began as bodily reconstruction for wounded soldiers in World War I. The surgery developed in stages, starting with correcting traumatic injuries and deformed facial features. The more cosmetic focus began in the 1970’s, with creating “perfected” facial features and making aesthetically pleasing body parts. Cosmetic surgery boomed in the 1990’s, with 1.2 million procedures performed in the United States alone (plasticsurgery.org). The swiftness in which these procedures have infiltrated society has lead to a change in our view of the value of the body. The modern ease and accessibility of cosmetic surgery has intensified the need for external beauty and has influenced the loss of personal identity.

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

The article, “About Face” (2015) by Patricia Marx discusses the overwhelming appeal of plastic surgery in South Korea. She travelled to Seoul, South Korea to get a closer look at the importance of plastic surgery here. In her research she discovers that South Korea is the plastic surgery capital of the world with appearance being incredibly important in attaining a job, spouse, or approval from one’s own family. The author also found that the most popular surgeries including double-eyelid surgery, nose jobs, and jaw-slimming surgery. The article proves how important body image is in society.

“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.

Society’s ideals of beauty differs throughout the world. The American and South Korean standards of beauty are vastly different which is interesting to compare. I was intrigued by this topic because of many Korean shows that I watch and I’ve realized a major difference in fashion and beauty between these two cultures. American and South Koreans follow different trends, and undergo plastic surgeries but they are often influenced by the same source which is the media.

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

The public is becoming more accustomed to the idea of plastic surgery; and number of patients seeking plastic surgery has increased in the past decade. Each year the American society is stimulated with thousands of prototype images. This reality affects countless people with low self-steam and fills the brain of men and women with lack of confidence about their body images. Plastic surgery seems to be a comfortable resolution to this issue, but actually it’s just the beginning of a more complex matter related to body images. The public is becoming more and more accustomed to the idea of plastic surgery.

There are many reasons why someone may want to change his or her physical appearance, and many of these reasons are out of people 's control. Cosmetic practices and plastic surgery have become more pervasive in modern day society. Plastic surgery is defined as any cosmetic procedure that allows one to reconstruct his or her physical appearance. Although plastic surgery has some benefits, such as the ability to reconstruct genetic deformities that one has no control over, many of the people who undergo plastic surgery do it for non-essential reasons. Plastic surgery can authentic an individual 's goals for beauty if it is necessary, and as long as the individual has higher self-confidence and a higher sense of self. Though this is typically not the case, many of these reasons range from different media and cultural along with societal influences, to an insufficient sense of self, and paired with certain psychological disorders. They opt in favor of cosmetic procedures for a variety of different reasons, characteristically not the right ones, which leaves room for different risks and drawbacks.

The ASPS (American Society of Plastic Surgeons) describes aesthetic plastic surgery as “a procedure used to reshape normal structures of the body in order to improve the patient's appearance and self-esteem”. Recently “over 10 million cosmetic surgical and nonsurgical procedures were performed by board certified doctors in the United States” (“Cosmetic Procedure Increase”). While both men and women use plastic surgery, it is more common in women. Out of the 10 million cosmetic surgeries, 90% of the surgeries are on women. In fact, “the most frequently performed surgical procedure was breast augmentation” (“Cosmetic Procedure Increase”), which is about 20% of the 1.7 million procedures done in 2012. This statistic is not surprising especially since women have more pressure than men to have a presentable outer appearance. Its hard not to want certain bodily features when society claims these features are what makes one attractive.

Plastic Surgery has become a worldwide epidemic in today’s world. The number of plastic surgeries continues to increase since 2010. In today’s day and age, plastic surgery is one of the most popular and requested procedures. Females are opting to have plastic surgery because they dislike their body image. Society has impacted many people by brain washing them to believe that a person’s body has to be perfect. In order for one to be considered beautiful, television and media influence people’s perceptions of beauty.

“Be who you are not who the world wants you to be” (Unknown). Society constantly uses the phrase “Be yourself”, however at the same time indicates beauty standards such as body type; tall, skinny, incredibly tiny waist, light skin, the list seems everlasting. Cosmetic surgery, the surgical process of changing one’s physical appearance for cosmetic reasons, has become the solution for thousand of men and women seeking to reach society’s expectations. Nearly sixteen million cosmetic surgeries, most commonly known as plastic surgery, performed in 2016 in the U.S, claiming to help patient with their self-esteem and overall improvement to their future. Changing by the aspects of others and becoming someone else should not have a place in the twenty-first century, the danger, cost and personal impact of the rigorous medical procedures seem unacceptable. Having a low self-esteem and struggling with the different social beliefs of beauty aspects have other solutions rather than plastic surgery.

We live in a society where people worship beauty. As far as recorded history people have gone to extremes to seek beauty. From foot binding in China to wearing strangulating corsets in Victorian era. People from different race and culture have experimented in every way possible way to look beautiful prior to this popular age of plastic surgery. It’s very common to hear people complain about their appearance, whether it’s their crocked nose, thin lips or flat chest. Remarkably, plastic surgery has been the solution for people who complain. Most people tend to think of plastic surgery as only cosmetic surgery and not as reconstructive surgeries. Plastic surgeries seems to be an invention of modern technology; however its roots lie in the ancient history of India. An Indian surgeon contributed towards the establishment of plastic surgery, it was intended to correct physical deformities acquired during birth, accident, disease or war. These surgeries did not gain the popularity it has today until the First World War. It was during the late 60’s, when doctors started realizing the endless possibilities of plastic surgeries. With the help of this surgery a trained surgeon can replace an amputate body part, remove skin cancer, get rid of unattractive scars and visible birthmarks or rescaling a nose or enhance body parts. Today more and more people from different age groups opt for plastic surgeries to obtain dramatic physical changes. These surgeries were envisioned to restore

As the Korean wave becoming popular all over the world, more and more people also want to try to imitate the faces of Korean stars or improve their appearances in order to become more beautiful. So, the industry of plastic surgery in South Korea has drawn many tourists’ attention. According to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS), the number of “individuals in South Korea who undergo plastic surgery have reached approximately 20,000 per 100,000 of the general population” (Seok-Chan, 2013). It makes South Korea become famous as a country with high technology of doing plastic surgery. The Korean National Assembly also passed a medical law in 2009 in order to provide a legal basis for hospitals to attract foreign patients from overseas countries (Seok-Chan, 2013). Moreover, the cost of plastic surgery in South Korea was 80% lower than that in the US or the UK (Denisenko, 2010). As a result, many people in different countries have travelled to South Korean for doing plastic surgery by