South Korea is the plastic capital of the world .
South Korea, country of about 50 million people accounted for nearly a million of them. It reportedly has the highest rate of Plastic Surgery per capita.
To walk down the street or take the subway in seoul is to be bombarded by commertials for plastic surgery and even some real life examples , turn on the tv , it’s there too .
“In Korea , plastic surgery is regarded as a gift from the parents to congradulate their graduation from high school and entering university”- says Man Koon Suh from JW Plastic Surgery Clinic .
Facial surgery is advanced in Korea . The most common procedure is Blepharoplasty ( “Double Eyelid Surgery”). In a survey of 1,000 patients run by the Korea consumer agency(KCA) 67.8% said they had undergone “ double-eyelid surgery.
since most koreans do not have double eyelids so people who do not have any double eyelids then they’re appearance looks like angry when they do not smile. As many asian people believe that the first impression is very important and the most important part of the face is the eye and when they have double eyelid surgery their eye size becomes bigger so they believe their appearance will be much prettier than before surgery explains Dr. Man Koon Suh.
In Korea , some believe that beauty is not something that everyone is born with, but it can be made afterwards. so plastic surgery became very popular . In Seoul 20% of women ages 19-49 have undergone plastic surgery.
With high competition among the surgeons and high demand, it creates the best quality of plastic surgery in the world , says Dr . Soon Hong Kwon .
It has been 15 to 20 years since plastic surgery became popular in Korea . Media , among other reasons might be why people care so much about their beauty . Also, the proportion of plastic surgeons among Korean doctors is higher than any other country. It brings out a high competition among the plastic surgeons .
Many people from foreign countries visit a lot to South Korea just for plastic surgeries. Not only they come for one or two surgeries , but they usually come for an all in one package surgery .
Between 1975 and 2015, The median age in South Korea soared from 19.6 to 41.2, driving the popularity of anti-aging procedures .Before, only people who wanted dramatic surgeries would go in , with that trend , anti ageing procedures , such as face lifts have become more popular.
Employment surgery is a common occurrence in South Korea. Due to a lot of competition in the job market, appearance is considered an important factor when hiring, which pressures people into undergoing surgery to get an edge over their competitors.
Author : Yashika Apoorva