Tuesday, March 08, 2005 @6:03 PM
By Charles Scanlon
BBC News, South Korea
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.
Even the most ardent patriot would not describe South Korean cities as beautiful.
A dreary expanse of undistinguished concrete blocks does little to inspire the first time visitor.
But all is not lost for those on the look out for aesthetic attractions.
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.
South Korea is in the grip of a beauty craze.
Investment
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.
Envy
The buzz word these days is ul-jjang, literally "best face". (remember some entry i posted?) 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.
Implants
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.
Disfigurement
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.
The results are predictable enough.
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.
Amazingly, malpractice suits are few and far between, and the damages paid to victims are derisory by international standards. Most complaints are settled quietly out of court in deals brokered by the consumer association.
The certified plastic surgeons are pushing for tougher regulation and more accountability, but they are up against a powerful lobby of doctors who fight any restrictions on the right to practice.
Secret filming
Until recently, the media has shown little interest in investigating the abuses. But in one recent case, an undercover TV crew filmed a liposuction operation at the surgery of a gynaecologist.
The operation was performed by the salesman from the company that sold the machine. At one point he invited the gynaecologist to hold the suction tube, to groans of pain from the unfortunate patient.
The government seems more interested in keeping the doctors happy than in protecting the public as a whole. And in the frenzy to look their best South Korean women, as well as increasing numbers of men, are still prepared to take the risk.
Published: 2005/02/03 11:34:29 GMT
© BBC MMV
RED LIGHTI think this whole plastic-craze is quite disgusting. Take Micheal Jackson as an example. From a black, he wished to turn blonde; first, bleaching his skin, then sharpening his nose so many times that it's now loose. As i surf through forums, mainly korean's, there are many members who post pics using double eyelid tape or glue, actual before & post surgery, and also not missing out on our photoshoped celebrities. I feel we should be thankful with what you were born with, going under the knife is a pathetic attempt to purchase what you don't, and thus weren't meant to, have. The media doesn't help either with more then half of the "hottest" celebs had surgery in one part of their body or another. And "extreme makeover" seems to be promoting plastic. Honestly speaking, alot of women that get plastic surgery aren't bad looking, some are even gorgeous to begin with. Why can't they find satisfaction and thankfulness with what they were born with? GREEN LIGHTDifferent people have different ideas of "beauty". You can describe them as perfectionists. When females wear foundation, blush, mascara, eyeliner, lipstick then thats not enhancement. Thats altering your facial colors. When you cut your hair you're ultering it. When you dye it, clean it, tie it back. You wear clothes to feel more beautiful, if that weren't true you would just wear whatever and it wouldn't matter if you matched or anything.People can't be happy with what they have because thats against our nature, and to look down on others for that is a "i'm better than thou" high and mighty attitude that is just wrong. Basically, make-ups, facials are smaller methods of "beauty" compared to plastic surgery yet its till along the same line. haha, i gave 2 stands.. honestly i'd go for the "yes". ps: taebin had a double eyelid surgery.