Korea's plastic surgery obsession sparks concern

[unreal.livejournal.com]

* South Korea is second to Hungary in per capita procedures
* Pop star Goo Hara, a model for cosmetic surgery
* Aiming for "small faces" and big, round eyes

Put together the world's most wired country, a fascination with the lives of the young, rich and famous and a penchant for plastic surgery, and what do you have? A problem, some South Koreans say.

This affluent Asian country of 50 million people has the second largest number of plastic surgery operations in the world relative to the size of its population after Hungary, according to industry data, and the Internet is fanning the flame.

With Korean pop sensations such as Goo Hara from hit girl group KARA admitting they have gone under the knife, there's no shame in ordinary mortals following suit, despite old Confucian teachings that altering the body disrespects one's parents.


Thousands of websites with hundreds of thousands of followers have sprung up recently, allowing devotees of cosmetic surgery to share tips on how to obtain the perfect body, discuss the most effective surgeries and post photos with queries about what they should have changed.

"I am now able to attract a boyfriend after undergoing a facial liposuction surgery," said an unnamed woman picked recently as "Plastic Surgery Queen of the Week" on the Yeowooya website(http://cafe.naver.com/feko), which has 550,000 followers and is the country's most popular such site.

"Can you see, my face is now narrower than before."

Her post attracted 500 comments from others seeking to emulate her -- and to find her surgeon.

"Please send me clinic information. I too want to have fat sucked out of my face," wrote one woman.


POPULAR PLASTIC SURGERY

According to The International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (ISAPS), 770,913 plastic surgery procedures were carried out in 2010, putting South Korea seventh on a global list in terms of the total number of operations performed.

The most popular procedure is believed to be double eyelid surgery to make eyes look bigger and rounder, but an operation to produce a "small face," including liposuction and reconfiguring the jawbone, is the current fad.

Many high school girls choose to get surgery after sitting for their college entrance exams, and plastic surgery clinics launch aggressive advertising campaigns to attract more people, including "mother and daughter" surgery packages. Others offer two procedures for the price of one.

Still, concern has grown since 2008 when photos of a woman with a face ruined by a series of plastic surgeries appeared online, shocking the nation.

The state-run Korea Consumer Agency said the number of reported cases of side effects had surged to 4,043 in 2011, up from 1,698 in 2008.

"Many plastic surgeons only highlight the positive side of cosmetic surgery ... there have even been cases reported where doctors have had patients sign a consent form whilst on the operating table," said Kwon Seon-hwa, deputy manager at the consumer agency.

A rare poster campaign, "Against Plastic Surgery," was held in Seoul's ritzy Gangnam suburb, which has been dubbed the city's "beauty belt" due to the large number of clinics there.

But change will likely come at a slow pace.

Deeply rooted cultural factors such as placing a high value on appearance because people judge others quickly -- in line with a Korean propensity for haste -- may play a role, said Shin Young-chul, a psychiatrist at Kangbuk Samsung Hospital in Seoul.

"A growing income level and an accepting social atmosphere (for cosmetic surgery) allows more people to go under the knife," he said. "But this recent craze is definitely excessive." (Reporting By Eunjee Park; editing by Elaine Lies and Bob Tourtellotte)

Source: trust

Comments

[4minutesluts.livejournal.com]

hara looks like that after surgery?

[itangeisha.livejournal.com]

Opened the naver link and... dear god.
Some really look like different persons, i wonder what family thinks, not society.

[pon-pon-pink.livejournal.com]

every day i see those advertisments i think about that. or idk..coworkers etc. Like you go on a vacation and come back and look completely different. How do they react? =0

[airplanewishes.livejournal.com]

I think most celebrities already look good to a certain extent and just enhance their features. From what I know, Hara only did something to her eyes.

I think if you do it to change your face drastically, it becomes worrying. But wow at the statistics.

[laeryn.livejournal.com]

I think most celebrities already look good to a certain extent and just enhance their features.

IA. At the very least, they have the potential and just need a few changes. Plastic surgery can't do wonders, and when it does wonders, it looks artificial (to me, at least).

[litost.livejournal.com]

i know three [korean] girls who went to korea to get double eyelid surgery before the age of 18. koreans are really nonchalant about plastic surgery from my experience, practically everyone goes under the knife and they consider it the norm.

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

its crazy that you can get plastic surgery before youre 18 in korea
in germany every surgeon would tell you to go back and come again when you're 18, even if you beg them and have your parents permit
imo this proofs that the surgeons there arent really professionals..

[deazaskia.livejournal.com]

"...doctors have had patients sign a consent form whilst on the operating table" this scares me :S
i'm really curious and really want to join the cafe just to see the after/before photos...

[illustratedd.livejournal.com]

eh, i wouldn't do any of it for myself but idk there's nothing wrong with wanting to change yourself if you want to. like it's their body? their choice? people pierce their skin, i guess they're also allowed to modify it.

i sound so sure about this! n_____n

[turielen.livejournal.com]

The problem lies in thinking cosmetic surgery is necessary to get ahead in life (find a job, a husband, etc.). There's a difference between doing a body modification that is inherently ornamental, and having your face/body altered and rearranged until you literally become someone else because your physical appearance was "wrong".

I'd like to get my nose done. Not desperately, though; it'd just be nice to not care what angle my picture is taken from.

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

And then they all look the same.
Yeah for diversity.

[lellihir.livejournal.com]

I second this!

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

Plastic surgery per se is not the issue imo.
It's more the fact that people would consider a specific operation because it's fashionable and what other people do.
If it's something one really wants and has thought about very carefully then that's cool.
But lately, and especially in SK, plastic surgery seems to be a Rite of passage.
Parents would offer plastic surgery to their kids (mostly girls) as a graduation gift. Or to help them "get a husband" saying that there's no way they'd find love "looking like that". In some occasion plastic surgery is required to get a job (and I'm not talking about singing/acting).
If the surgery is done out of free will there is no issue. But when it's done because of social pressure or to comply with someone else's opinion on beauty there's a problem imo.

[pon-pon-pink.livejournal.com]

it's scary and awful how much surgery the get here and how it's advertised and i feel bad for wondering every time i meet a pretty Korean wome how much of that is natural DD:

[walkin-siesta.livejournal.com]

it's not the procedure itself that's worrying,but the mindset behind it. like 'you can't have boyfriends/good carreer/love unless you look like so and so' and such..

that kind of thinking tends to lead to ugly results

[valieleen.livejournal.com]

mte

[bumie.livejournal.com]

I think its ok and they can do whatever they want to feel better about how they look but i don't like how they all look alike and sometimes pretty pple go under knife to look prettier it unnecessary.

[a-cheshire-grin.livejournal.com]

I hate my body, so if I had enough money I would consider having a few things done.

I think everybody needs to decide for themselves if they want or don't want to support plastic surgery. I think it just gets scary when people suddenly look totally different after their surgery.

[rennehollic.livejournal.com]

I don't mind PS until a certain point.
but I believe some do too much. some change so much I wonder if they recognize themselves on the mirror

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

It can cause nervous breakdown and other issue.
One of my friend got a rhinoplasty and the change was so important she wasn't able to recognize herself when looking in the mirror.
It took her months to finally get over it, and see that the girl in the mirror was really her.

*don't know if that's clear*

[k0dama.livejournal.com]

Even if we're leading at it, much of it is minor surgeries, like double-eyelid procedure, which is about as big a deal as permanent makeup in that it isn't a big deal.

[kanintallrik.livejournal.com]

how does the double eyelid procedure look, rougly?

[laeryn.livejournal.com]

I am OK with surgery as long as it's because YOU want to see yourself prettier. We all have our views on what's beautiful and what isn't, and if you can change you don't like about yourself, why not? It can make wonders to your confidence, I've seen that in one of my friends. Plus, it's their bodies and their money.

What I don't like, tho, it's the "you need to undergo the knife to get a bf." Well, NO. The only important thing should be that YOU are comfortable in your own skin, wether it's with or without plastic surgery. That mindset is just wrong.

That said, another thing I don't really understand is people that invalidate a person's beauty because they've got plastic surgery. If she's beautiful/he's handsome, why does it matter?

// omg, sorry, too long.

[laeryn.livejournal.com]

reconfiguring the jawbone

I have read about this before but I don't know how the hell that works. And it scares me tbh. Anyone?

[episkia.livejournal.com]

i went over to korea after finishing high school these holidays and my grandmother kept nagging me to get my nose done. it's tradition over there to get plastic surgery as a graduation present, eyes is kind of a must and the richer ones also do their nose or legs - this along with sticking a personal trainer at the gym and losing a lot of weight basically makes the person's physical appearance look so different (and 'better') before university hits. some girls i know over there who are my age were telling me about it and it legit scares me. i don't particularly judge them for it, because in such a society, it's an expectation you do. but it makes me sad because they're forever running towards this goal to have these certain features when people are beautiful in their own way. my hotel was in kangnam, and i'm not lying when i say 80% of the girls that walked past me had the same european high bridged nose. except, well, something often seemed to have gone wrong.

[episkia.livejournal.com]

oh, and just to add to that. celebrities obviously have it so much worse you know? they have to be so forever stressed about their appearance weight everything i have so much sympathy for them. basically, if you're not one of the a list stars and the director while watching you being recorded for a drama simply says the words 'you look okay from the front, but from the side .....' the first thing you do is book a time at a plastic surgery office.

they're things i've heard from cameramen themselves so.

i'd suffocate and just die a bit more inside day by day in such an industry. and i consider myself to be quite strong.

[porandojin.livejournal.com]

oh she did much more, almost all face ... she even admitted openly on strong heart

[pon-pon-pink.livejournal.com]

it's scary and awful how much surgery the get here and how it's advertised and i feel bad for wondering every time i meet a pretty Korean wome how much of that is natural DD:

[lonelymoon.livejournal.com]

Yeah pretty much.

[somacomatose.livejournal.com]

"mother and daughter" surgery packages

[miki-831.livejournal.com]

I don't have anything against plastic surgery but you have to do your homework and find a good surgeon, and be careful not to get addicted.

[rennehollic.livejournal.com]

I've this to add.
if a person gets addicted to surgery (and it does. a person with PS always tends to believe there's always one thing to change) may end up like this:

[aleksu7.livejournal.com]

Oh God! La duquesa here not, please xD

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

i personally think that most people dont need plastic surgery at all. i only support plastic surgery when it helps people who had, lets say, an accident or their faces got ruined by a fire. or people who have mental issues with their body and face. but most of the time people dont need plastic surgery, they need a good psychologist to realize that theyre already pretty the way they are.

[domokuniscute.livejournal.com]

IA. Personally I believe in being yourself. Self esteem and confidence should be gained in a different way, not through changing the appearance, that's not really the root of the "problem".

[weerainbow.livejournal.com]

I wish more people had the freedom to feel good about themselves as they are instead of feeling pressured to look a certain way :( I know not everyone gets it done for that reason but I think it's a factor in a large number of decisions to go for surgery.

[in-noctem.livejournal.com]

Semi OT but has anyone seen this? It was really hard to not tear up while watching.

[unreal.livejournal.com]

It's great that people where able to help them.

[black-silver.livejournal.com]

the locus of confidence is my issue with this, not the fact that people want to boost it

but w/e it's pointless to comment on this, as long as money's being made nothing's gonna change