Plastic surgery is very prevalent in South Korea. The Korean culture holds appearances in very high regard and, consequently, many people alter their looks to achieve what they deem as a more attractive look. Looks are extremely important to the Korean people and getting a job often is dependent upon your appearance. Koreans are extremely image-conscious and image truly is everything here.
The most popular form of plastic surgery in South Korea is blepharoplasty, double-eyelid surgery. I'd never even heard of this form of plastic surgery until I came here. Many Koreans have had the procedure performed and many have also had a rhinoplasty, or nose job. They seek a taller, thinner nose and more "Western"-looking eyes.
From the research I've done, over 75 percent of Koreans, both men and women, have had at least one cosmetic surgery procedure done. That pretty much blows my mind.
One of my adult students last year told me that many Koreans equate Western people to power and money, so Koreans then want to emulate that "ideal", thinking it's powerful. She told me that many Koreans change the appearance of their faces to more closely match the European face, with double eyelids, paler skin and higher, thinner noses.
This concept is so strange to me considering most of the people I know think Asians are absolutely stunning, myself included.
Also, many Koreans use pricey, magical facial creams and potions that bleach their skin to make it lighter. Those that can afford it will also have their skin chemically treated to become lighter. One of my male Korean friends had one of those creams and one of my Western friends put it on her face thinking it was regular moisturizer until her skin started burning. She asked my friend what it was and he said it was a bleaching cream. She ran to the sink to wash her face off. The poor girl would have had a translucent face.
In the days of royalty and peasants in Korea, the royalty always had pale skin because they never spent any time outside working. However, the peasant farmers had very dark, tanned skin. Therefore the rich were pale and the poor were dark. Couple that with the idea of pale European-descendants seen as rich and powerful and the population of Korea works their hardest to make their skin as pale as possible.
I've also heard reports from some of my former students that some mothers begin encouraging their middle-school aged children to get plastic surgery and surgical procedures are given as gifts. I find that incredibly disturbing.
Unfortunately the U.S. has an incredibly high number of people that have had cosmetic surgeries also, but it just seems that 75 percent is a ridiculously high number of the population. According to my calculations, about 38 percent of Americans have had a cosmetic surgery procedure. I actually thought it would be a higher number.
The most disturbing report came from one of my former female students. She told me that women at some of the universities in Seoul had sold their organs to buy Chanel, Louis Vuitton, etc. purses and clothing. I certainly can't verify it, but when I asked some other friends about it they said they weren't in the least bit surprised.
Ummm, really?! Cutting up your body so you can buy a bag that will be out of fashion in a matter of months? I just think there's something disturbingly grotesque about that.
**** Even more disturbing: in the photo, the Korean woman is lying on American money, not even Korean Won. ****
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