As end to pandemic mask-wearing nears, Koreans scramble to arrange cosmetic surgery

[waves-of-light.livejournal.com]

When Ryu Han-na, a 20-year-old university student, got cosmetic surgery on her nose in mid-December, she had a simple reason: it might be the last chance to do so covertly before people start taking off masks this year as vaccines are distributed.

Ryu, who has been attending her courses online throughout 2020, said the ability to recuperate at home and wear a mask in public without drawing attention were deciding factors.

"I always wanted to get a nose job ... I thought it would be the best to get it now before people start taking off masks when vaccines become available in 2021," she said as she prepared for the 4.4 million won ($4,013) procedure.

"There will be bruises and swelling from the surgery but since we'll all be wearing masks I think that should help," she added.

That attitude is fuelling demand for such operations in South Korea, which had already experienced a pickup in cosmetic surgery in 2020.

The country has been a world capital of cosmetic surgery even during non-pandemic times. The industry is estimated to be worth about $10.7 billion in 2020, up 9.2% year-on-year, and is expected to hover around $11.8 billion this year, according to Gangnam Unni, the country's largest online cosmetic surgery platform.

Cosmetic surgeons say patients are interested in all parts of the face: those that can be easily hidden under masks, such as the nose and lips, as well as those that face coverings don't conceal, which some consider the criteria of beauty in the coronavirus era.

"Both surgical and non-surgical inquiries about eyes, eyebrows, nose bridge and foreheads - the only visible parts - certainly increased," said Park Cheol-woo, a surgeon at WooAhIn Plastic Surgery Clinic, who was in charge of Ryu's operation.

Surgeon Shin Sang-ho, who operates Krismas Plastic Surgery Clinic in the centre of Gangnam district, said many people have spent their emergency stimulus payment from the government at hospitals and clinics, boosting revenue in the third and fourth quarter of 2020.

"I felt like it's sort of a revenge spending. I've sensed that customers were expressing their pent-up emotions (from the coronavirus) by getting cosmetic procedures," Shin said.

Government data showed that of 14.2 trillion won ($12.95 billion) government cash handouts, 10.6% was used in hospitals and pharmacies, the third-largest segment by classification behind supermarkets and restaurants, though the details of hospital types were not disclosed.

Gangnam Unni data showed its users surged 63% from a year earlier to about 2.6 million last year. They requested 1 million counselling sessions, double the amount from a year earlier.

The pandemic made it harder to promote services to foreign clients, so in the last year it embraced a more local and regional focus.

But a third wave of coronavirus at home remains a concern as the country reports record-breaking daily cases.

"We've seen growing numbers of cancellations in consultation appointments recently as people refrain more from going outside ... especially customers from the suburbs mostly postponed their surgeries to 2021," Park said.







source: The Korea Times

Comments

[belintuchiha.livejournal.com]

I thought about this too lol it is the perfect time to get such procedures done and then rest at home

[vanilla-09.livejournal.com]

So like... with an industry being worth that much it really isn't in their best interest for korean/ any beauty standards to like dissapear lol

[petecarl.livejournal.com]

omg, i never thought about it that way. but it makes sense. I saw a post on tumblr the other day that the reason why we see more GNC men in media than GNC women is you're opening up a new market to men who've never worn makeup or nail polish before, whereas you can't market products to women when the whole point is to not buy or use them.

[vanilla-09.livejournal.com]

that's a really, really good example!

[aeries-amethyst.livejournal.com]

What does GNC mean?

[petecarl.livejournal.com]

gnc - gender nonconforming

Ex. Men who wear dresses. Women who don't shave.

Not the same thing as nonbinary.

[au9042.livejournal.com]

Make sense, I decided to put braces on two months ago...

[baekpedaling.livejournal.com]

If I had the money I would of been trying for covid makeover haha

[snowphone.livejournal.com]

well i certainly would have never though of that!

[premonitioner.livejournal.com]

if i didn't have such bad dissociation whenever i gain/lose even the tiniest bit of weight on my face and therefore know that surgery would FUCK ME UP i'd totally do this too

anyway as someone who thinks the top half of their face is the more attractive half....i have decided to take joy from the tiny things in this hellfire and appreciate that my most attractive features are now on display and my big ass nose being hidden by my mask now brings the attention to my hella good eye makeup

[soyunatetera.livejournal.com]

Is not that related but I'll tell it anyway lol
My nephew had a bone elongation cirgury (he had a 4cm difference en his legs and that was clearly gonna mess his back up when he get older) and 2020 was perfect for his treatment/recovery, so this year was good for people who needed time to do medical/surgical stuff

[nudrive.livejournal.com]

so this year was good for people who needed time to do medical/surgical stuff

I disagree with that generalisation. A lot of people's surgeries got cancelled or pushed back due to the stress hospitals and medical staff have been put under bc of covid. It's difficult to get proper treatment in a lot of places because they don't want to keep people bc they need every single bit of space and resources to treat people with covid. They're also very careful to bring new patients in just in case they have it.

[soyunatetera.livejournal.com]

You're right! maybe is just for a very specific type of treatment that's done in a specialized center.
I guess what I meant by that it was great, was referring that people had the time needed to recover since many of outside activities were cancelled, in the case of my nephew, he's a student but his face-to-face classes were cancelled so he could recover at home.
But ypu're right that the conditions in the health sectos this year were awful and pushed to it's limits.

[nudrive.livejournal.com]

Yeah true, I think that if you went for private or cosmetic procedures then you'd be fine and it'd probably be great but anything else, not so much.

idk how people have the guts to go do cosmetic stuff etc. I havent gone out to do anything other than get groceries or post stuff. I prob really need to see a dentist but too scared lol

[soyunatetera.livejournal.com]

Oh no... You should definitely go to the dentist if you need to, sometimes postpone dental stuff can be terrible 😑 I went with my mom to the dentist when the quarantine started in my country because she broke a tooth and the dentist was really careful in the sanitary stuff, like she almost putted my mom in a plastic bag with only her mouth exposed and the dentist was full covered... Like idk how she could breathe with all that stuff

[nudrive.livejournal.com]

woahhhh - tbh it's more so bc I havent been in over a year, since my dentist had to cancel my app at the start of the year and I couldn't reschedule, then the pandemic happened.

Most dentists here aren't seeing people unless it's an emergency anyway and even then it's like 'are you in pain tho?' bc my dad also broke his tooth and they were like yeah nah it's not an emergency if you're not in pain lol sorry.

I prob want to see the hygeinist more so, I want my teeth cleaned ;~;

[soyunatetera.livejournal.com]

my mom was in pain but I think the dentist would have seen her anyways, the measures against the virus have been lax here