Plastic surgery for Korean Beauty

The South Korean capital, Seoul, has a reputation as the place to go for a nip or a tuck. But despite being an unregulated industry, thousands seem willing to risk injury in pursuit of a perfect body.




Peer pressure is encouraging young South Koreans to have surgery.

South Korean women have a reputation as the most striking in Asia.
And the men are also shaping up. Korean actors are currently the region's premier heartthrobs.

The Korean look, with high cheekbones and sculptured features is all the rage from Shanghai to Singapore.

The streets of Seoul are thick with impeccably groomed young women in miniskirts, seemingly immune to the sub zero temperatures of the Korean winter.

Women of marriageable age are under intense pressure to look their best at all times and one of the consequences has been an explosion in plastic surgery.

A woman's magazine recently advised its readers to spend 30% of their incomes on looking good.

The reason, you will end up with a better and richer husband and that has to be a sensible investment.

The buzz word these days is ul-jjang, literally "best face".

Women, and some men as well, send posed photographs to websites, where they can be ranked on their looks.
The winners aspire to jobs in modelling and acting.

That spirit of competition is keeping the country's thousands of plastic surgeons hard at work.

It is no longer enough just to correct perceived flaws. The trick these days is to stand out from the crowd and be the envy of your friends.

By conservative estimates, 50% of South Korean women in their 20s have had some form of cosmetic surgery. And in a recent poll, 70% of men said they would also consider surgical improvements.

There is little stigma or shame attached, many of the operations have come to seem routine.

Kim Hee-soon is fairly typical. An impossibly slender 28-year-old shipping clerk.

She began with a double eyelid operation when she went to university. It is the most common procedure for Koreans, designed to make the eyes look bigger.

Pleased with the result she went back later to ask for a more statuesque nose.
But the surgeon had a suggestion of his own, an operation to make her chin more shapely and cutting from inside the mouth he inserted an implant.

Three years later, she still feels pain and discomfort, especially when the weather is cold.

But despite the experience she is now considering breast implants.

That surgeon, like so many others practising here, turned out to be unqualified for the job, but he aggressively denied anything was wrong with his handiwork.

South Korea has just 1,200 certified plastic surgeons. Many thousands of others are operating without proper qualifications.

It is a highly lucrative business and everyone wants a slice of the action.

One qualified surgeon told me he knew of psychiatrists doing liposuction and radiologists performing double eyelid operations.

For those who want an even cheaper job, there is always the massage woman at the local sauna who is handy with the botox injection and the scalpel.

Cosmetic surgeons tell hushed stories of botched noses, damaged faces and women who cannot close their eyes at all after too much of the lid is cut away.

Some of the practitioners have no grasp of basic surgery. Patients asking for liposuction are literally risking their lives on the operating table.

Qualified operators say their old classmates from med school constantly badger them for lessons on lucrative cosmetic operations.

The result has been a dramatic drop in the price of plastic surgery, making it available to all. A second eyelid for the price of a night out.

And for those who want an even cheaper job, there is always the massage woman at the local sauna who is handy with the botox injection and the scalpel.

Mandrake, on Feb 20 2005, 01:31 AM, said:

South Korea, Seoul is NOT known to be famous among Japanese for beauty surgery - never heard about that. It must be noticed that South Korea is not a cheap country and medical fees are high.

Situation in Japan however is similar to South Korea. Many people are studying in universities, and there are more medical doctors than jobs available. Not a small group out of them try to find an income in beauty surgery...originally coming from dermatology department, or dentist or general surgery...
In Japan, they are advertising openly their services and prices to attract their customers. Many Japanese people have some skin and dental problems, which are not covered by health insurance.

Quote

I do not know, what this has to do with beauty surgery in Asia, but most Asian cities are full with people, and cities are not 'beautiful' in the European sense, with historical buildings in the town-center.
Seoul ....compare it with Manila or Bangkok or Osaka or Jakarta...I do not know, which city is more or less beautiful.

Mandrake, on Feb 19 2005, 11:31 PM, said:

I don't agree with that but they are sure the ones putting the highest number of make-up layers in the world.
I'm sure it helps them... before the shower....

I personally don't find them the most stunning either.

... I wouldn't kick them out of bed for eating biscuits tho'

Mandrake, on Feb 20 2005, 01:01 PM, said:

They probably would not let you do it anyway.
The appearance is "deceiving", they are the roughest girls in Asia...

I like a bit of rough every now and then.

Rough is the word, and do not forget the Kimchi - smell.

OK, not so bad if you ate it yourself but still....

Axel, on Feb 20 2005, 01:29 PM, said:

Right Axel, rough as much as kimchi can be. Fermented cabbage with chili to hide the taste. A bit like a Korean girl with the make up.
You probably can get used to it but it takes some time...

Bluecat, on Feb 20 2005, 03:31 PM, said:

Very difficult Bluecat, very difficult.
Basically, I passed on the supervision of the Korean operation to somebody else.
I mean, I tried and admit, every house has a different version or recipe, but still
Kimchi is Kimchi is Kimchi. Oh well, before I go hungry...

March 6, 2005

Even the President is doing it
Roh joins a rising number of Korean men going for plastic surgery

SEOUL - PRESIDENT Roh Moo Hyun went under the knife recently to fix his droopy eyelids which his spokesman said had affected his vision.



Now, the 58-year-old leader has 'better vision' and double eyelids to show for it.



His wife, First Lady Kwon Yang Suk, underwent a similar operation to 'stop her eyelashes from poking her eyes', Korean media reported.

Though it is an open secret that South Korean women would not think twice about going for the occasional nip and tuck, the President is among the gradually increasing number of men here who are turning to plastic surgery to improve their appearance.

Of the 14,619 South Koreans who underwent plastic surgery in 2003, 15.7 per cent - or 2,295 - were men, according to the International Statistics for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.

This is an increase from 2002, when only 10 per cent of those who went under the knife were men.

While most women cited better marriage prospects as the main reason for having the operations, the men did it for the sake of their career.

Mr Roh, for one, had a Botox injection to remove the wrinkles on his forehead before the presidential polls three years ago, so as to endear himself to young voters.

In a survey by online shopping mall Interpark of 1,204 male adults, one in six had cosmetic surgery and among them, 34 per cent said they had done so to improve their chances at interviews.

There is stiff competition in the job market and the unemployment rate among those aged between 15 and 29 hit a record 7.9 per cent last year.

One in 10 respondents believed he had failed his interviews because of his looks.

Mr Kim Byung Hoon, 28, believes his small eyes are the reason why he had failed about 20 times to clinch a job despite having a degree from Korea University, one of the country's most prestigious schools.

His friends said the shape of his eyes made him look fierce and unapproachable. A month ago, he went under the knife to make his eyes look bigger.

Plastic surgeon Huh Joon Pyong said there are now more male patients compared to two years ago. He runs the KoKo Clinic in the southern area of Seoul, the mecca of cosmetic surgery in South Korea.

'Out of every five to six men who visit the office for consultation, about half would undergo the surgery,' Mr Huh said, adding that previously, only one or two stopped by and these were aspiring actors or singers.

Unlike female patients who tend to go for double eyelids or a higher nose bridge, the most common requests among men are enlarging single-eyelid eyes, lowering protruding cheekbones and fixing vocal cords to have a good voice. Some also ask for Botox injections to remove wrinkles on their foreheads and lasik surgery to correct short-sightedness.

Body slimming centres are also seeing more male customers.

Depending on what is required and the level of complexity, the procedures can cost anything from one million won (S$1,650) for a simple double-eyelid stitch job to six million won for reshaping facial contours.

The surgery has given Mr Kim, who has six interviews lined up, a new sense of confidence. He expects to perform better at interviews.

'Having a better appearance is important, not only because society stresses good looks, but also because I would feel better about myself,' he told The Sunday Times. 'Undoubtedly, looks do matter.'

THE SUNDAY TIMES

Body and Seoul

Sunday, November 13, 2005 The Seoul Times

Asian Girls Turn to Plastic Surgery for Korean Beauty


South Korean actress Song Hye-Kyo enjoys huge popularity among in Seoul and in Asia. As economic standards improve an increasing number of young ladies opt for plastic surgery in South Korea.

Cate Siu is from Hong Kong, but she's a fan of South Korean television shows and she keeps up with gossip about Korean celebrities on the Internet. Her favorite is a beautiful soap-opera star, Song Hye-Kyo, whose bee-stung lips and feminine features she admires.

"Korean actresses have prominent and elegant noses," says Siu, a 25-year-old aspiring actress. "They look so pretty."

So, when Siu decided she'd have a better shot at breaking into the entertainment business after improving her looks with a surgical makeover, she knew where she wanted to go. In April, she flew more than 1,000 miles to a clinic here for operations to raise the bridge of her nose, make her eyes appear larger and sharpen her chin.

Across Asia, South Korea is cool. From fashion to music to film, the country of 48 million people is redefining style. And as notions of Korean beauty become popularized by the country's exploding cultural exports, women from around the region — and some men, too — are flocking to Seoul to have their faces remodeled.

"A lot of my patients bring a picture of a Korean star from a magazine and say 'I want to look like that,'" says Chung Jong Pil, a surgeon who runs the Cinderella Plastic Surgery Clinic in a fashionable Seoul neighborhood.

Dr. Chung estimates that just under 10 percent of his customers come from overseas; the rest are locals. Most of the foreign visitors come from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, he says. Jung Dong Hak, a surgeon who specializes in rhinoplasty, or nose jobs, at another Seoul clinic, says roughly 15 percent of his patients are foreign. That number has been rising in the past few years. "The increase has been very big since the Korean Wave started," he says.

The trend says a lot about Korea's own image makeover. Not long ago, many people saw the country as a decidedly uncool industrial park pumping out cheap cars and appliances. But that started to change in the late 1990s, when the Korean government decided that entertainment could be an export industry. The film business in particular benefited from government help and private capital.

Star Power


South Korean TV actress Han Ye-Seul. The popular actress recently went throught a plastic surgery as many other actresses do.

Now, countries from Japan to Singapore are flooded with South Korean hip-hop and pop acts, melodramatic soap operas and movies from horror flicks to romantic comedies. Korean pop star BoA outsells Britney Spears in Japan. In 2004, Chinese television stations carried more than 100 Korean shows.

"I think Korean actresses are pretty. Because of Korean plastic-surgery techniques, they have a very soft, graceful style," said Lee Bingping, a woman from Foshan in southern China who visited Dr. Jung's clinic last year "If you have the money and the resources, you should try to look as good as possible."

Surgeons Capital

Just how common these procedures have become is hard to track but the number of surgeons performing image-enhancing work has increased sharply. The Korean Society of Aesthetic and Plastic Surgery, a professional group, says its membership has risen 85 percent to 960 since 2000. Another group, the Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, lists 1,300 members. (California, with a population of 34 million, has 864 plastic surgeons, according to the state medical board.)

"All the buzz and atmosphere makes young people today think [surgery] is common," says Lee Yihsiu, who runs the Taipei office of International Plastic Surgery, which matches up foreign patients with Korean surgeons. "Korean pop culture has made plastic surgery fashionable."

S Koreans show love with face lifts

(Reuters).Updated: 2006-05-09

South Koreans traditionally used to say it with flowers or money, but now more are showing love and respect to their parents by giving mum and dad coupons for cosmetic surgery.

Local media has reported a boom in orders this year for botox treatments, face lifts and hair transplants to mark Parents' Day on Monday.

Cosmetic surgery clinics in Seoul said they have been booked solid for weeks with appointments made by children for their parents.

Using surgery to enhance looks is common in South Korea, with few stigmas attached to having procedures done to make eyes rounder, noses more shapely and even calves slimmer.

Many parents pay for cosmetic surgery for their children as a graduation gift and it has become more common in recent years for children to return the favour.

"Appointments for procedures for Parents' Day have increased by over 50 percent from five years ago," said Lim Ee-seok, the president of the Theme Dermatology Clinic, a large cosmetic surgery facility in Seoul.

The most sought-after procedures at the clinic are botox injections, which range from 300,000 won (NZ$504) to 600,000 won (NZ$1,008) and surgery to remove wrinkles.

"Parents who have always sacrificed for their children are now more bold in asking for what they want," the Herald Business newspaper said in a story it carried on the subject.

Lee Shin-ja's children gave her a coupon for laser surgery to remove liver spots from her face.

"I never thought my children would do this," Lee, 62, said by telephone. "I am really happy they did because I look much younger now."

On this subject of plastic surgery:

Why do women want to look plastic?

(Telegraph).Updated: 2006-07-17

When I was about 20, my mum and my stepdad came into my room, sat me down and said they had something serious to tell me. I was terrified. I thought they were about to say they were getting divorced.

What could be so important that they both had to sit me down to talk? "We think you're really pretty," they said, "but you'd be beautiful if you had your nose fixed."

I was shocked. I certainly didn't have a button nose, but I never said I was unhappy with it. I wasn't angry with my parents - it just made me realise that my nose is part of my identity. It was the moment my views on cosmetic surgery were formed.

The cult of plastic surgery has created a weird tribe of women who, rather than looking better, just look "done". It's not about class or wealth - everyone is doing it and they don't look better, they just look changed.

It's become so common that considering surgery when you hit a certain age is expected. I wasn't immune to it myself. When I was in my late thirties - I'm 49 now - and things were starting to head south, I wondered whether I should do anything. My husband looked at me as though I were insane. It didn't take much to discourage me, but it was something I felt I had to think about - it's sad that it arose at all.

It disappoints me that something similar is happening in Britain. I always thought British women were much more comfortable with themselves and less neurotic about the quest for youth.

We're bombarded with images of women who have been airbrushed and face-lifted, but isn't it time for some kind of backlash? In centuries to come, anthropologists will look at pictures of Western women with spherical breasts, swollen lips and unnaturally taut skin and wonder: "What did they do to themselves?"

My opinions may seem hypocritical, since I'm in the beauty industry and promote the idea of looking wonderful. There's nothing wrong with wanting to look pretty, but this doesn't mean you have to change the shape of your face. Go for a run or a walk instead. Wear some concealer.

What's wrong with having lines around your eyes, anyway? I actually like them. I've had a freckle removed from my nose that bothered me for years, but I wouldn't want to do anything that would make me look like someone else.

Some women argue that surgery makes them feel better about themselves and therefore happier, but I think they've been conned. If you're not happy and comfortable with yourself, no amount of needles or scalpels will make a difference.

There's something scary about the current baby-doll aesthetic. I've been a make-up artist since the Eighties, when there seemed to be many ways to look beautiful. You could have big, bushy eyebrows and no make-up, you could look androgynous, or you could look ultra-feminine.

The top models then may have been young, but they didn't necessarily look young. It was often an advantage to look a little knowing.

Nowadays, models have child-like faces instead of strong features. I booked the British model Kirsty Hume for one of my campaigns recently and people thought I was making a bold statement - just because she is 30. I chose her because she looks amazing but, since everyone is now so fixated with youth, it seemed unusual.

Believe me, I know what it is to feel under pressure about your looks. Once, when I was working at a swimwear show, I remember looking up (I'm 5 ft tall) to see Helena Christensen, Cindy Crawford and Christy Turlington - all in full make-up, all in swimsuits - standing in front of me. I was 30 and pregnant and just thought: "There's no point trying to look like these women: supermodels are freaks of nature."

Women are now aspiring not just to look beautiful, but to look super-young, too. America's current role models are Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton. They look like kids wearing Mummy's clothes and jewellery. This is not what we should aspire to.

Everyone thinks they have to look camera-ready all the time. Every woman who has a baby feels she has to be in tight jeans within weeks. Your body changes when you have a baby. Why do we have to make it look as though nothing has happened? There's nothing more beautiful than a natural-looking woman - whatever her age. It doesn't mean that they've given up on their looks.

I did Susan Sarandon's make-up recently and I'm pretty certain she hasn't had surgery. I think most people would agree that she looks sexy and beautiful. She's almost 60 and she doesn't try to look younger. I have a picture of myself as I want to look at 80: I want to look as though I've enjoyed life, not obsessed about looking younger.

When I sold my company, I said to my dear mother: "OK, we're going to buy you a condo." Do you know what she replied? "Can't I have a face-lift instead?" I said "no", of course.

If you want to look better, get a new hairdo and learn to do your make-up properly - don't get someone to cut your face.

Man, I hate those plastic bitches! As for the men who go under the knife, I just want to kill those bastards. So disgusting.

Such an eloquent first post

Mandrake, on Aug 22 2006, 02:57 PM, said:

Right, welcome Mr. Smith, I'm looking forward to reading your second post...

Sorry guys, I just can't stand these fake women. And those sissy men that opt for plastic surgery are just unbelievable. Perhaps, it's a culture shock?!

richardsmithusa, on Aug 23 2006, 09:19 PM, said:

Not sure about the culture shock since I think plastic surgery for men is mostly unheard of in Asia, it is more of an American thing...