1 in 5 Korean Women Had Plastic Surgery

International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) states that Korea is the biggest market for cosmetic surgery in the world if population is taken into account. It has been found out that in Seoul, 20% of women from the age of 19 to 49 have undergone plastic surgery. That is 1 out of 5 Korean women! It seems that in Korea, the previous hush-hush attitude about plastic surgery is now a thing of the past.

In Confucian precepts of traditional Korea, altering the body that your parents have given is a violation that discourages cremations, organ and blood donations. But, nowadays, it is fairly common for parents in Korea to give their daughters plastic surgery as a gift after they graduated. They appear to believe that plastic surgery can help their kids in their search for a career.

“It used to be all hush-hush when mothers brought their daughters in for a face-lift before taking them to match-makers,” said Dr. Park Sang-hoon, head of ID Hospital. “Now young women go plastic surgery shopping around here.”

City worker Seonghee Yang, 25, who is originally from Seoul but now based in London told MailOnline: “I think Koreans see cosmetic procedures as ‘enhancements’. People see it as bettering yourself and celebrities are happy to talk about it. It is worrying that this can lead to extreme cases but if the surgery helps people with their confidence then I don’t personally see anything wrong with it.”

“The counterpart of double eyelid surgery in the US is breast augmentation,” says New York Plastic Surgeon Dr. Nicholas Vendemia. According to statistics, there are about 300 000 women who got breast enhancements in 2010.

According to the Economist, Korea has beaten the United States when it comes to the number of plastic surgery procedures performed in 2010. There are more than 5.8M procedures performed in Asia while surgeons in the US reported that they carried out 4.5M procedure the same year. In Korea, the most popular surgery is double eyelid surgery because it makes the eyes appear larger. 

There seems to be a never-ending boom to plastic surgery, not only in the US but also across the world. Seoul, Korea is the go to, not only for Koreans, but also for Japanese, Chinese and even Middle East patients who seek plastic surgery. Experts speculate that the largely homogenous society puts a pressure on becoming prettier or more normal-looking, at least. They are unperturbed by the risks of surgery and the number of Asian cosmetic surgery patients might continue to rise over the years.