The rise of the Korean entertainment industry highlights a lot of interesting facts about Korea’s culture and lifestyle. We, Cebuanos, are fond of watching Korean drama series and we are even big fans of some of these K-Pop artists. Hollywood’s monopoly of the entertainment industry has been put to an end since the turn of the 21st century through globalization brought by information revolution - the internet.
This entry features one of the most controversial and interesting parts of Korean culture - Plastic Surgery (or others put it as the culture of Beauty Obsession).
One of the most interesting things about plastic surgery – a generally expanding branch of surgery – is that it is not the same everywhere. Different countries have different trends, and in some cases even different surgeries. So, while you may think that you can get all of the information you need on the topic by visiting an American-based website such as Aboutplasticsurgery.com, you may actually need to do more thorough research if your goal is to fully understand all different types of plastic surgery. Plastic surgery in Korea follows entirely different trends than, for example, in the United States.
To begin with, plastic surgery is simply far more common in South Korea than in most countries. According to the Asian Plastic Surgery Guide mentioned above, 15 to 30 percent of all Korean women are estimated to have had surgeries at some point. It is also noted that if this study focused only on women under 30, that percentage could be closer to 50. Simply put, Korean women have demonstrated a steady and growing attraction to plastic surgery, and there is little to suggest that the trend will stop, as methods continue to improve and changes remain “in style.” However, the actual surgeries themselves are a bit different than what many people are used to as well.
While procedures such as breast augmentation and liposuction are common in South Korea, just as they are in the West, there is also a lot of focus aimed at surgeries called “double eyelid surgery” and “augmentation rhinoplasty.” The fist of these is designed to create a crease in the upper eyelid of Korean women, which some have noted as, possibly, a physical attempt at “westernizing” the East Asian appearance. The augmentation rhinoplasty is designed to tastefully enlarge the nose, which could also be said to be something aiming at a bit of a westernized look. Regardless of the intentions behind them, however, these procedures are two of the very most popular in South Korea.
There are also a few popular procedures that are almost exclusive to South Korea. For example, cheek and jaw surgeries are often performed in South Korea, but are rarely addressed in the West. Typically, the closest options to these surgeries in Western countries are chin surgery and facelifts, each of which can earn somewhat similar results. However, surgery directly used to enhance the cheeks and jaw is somewhat unique to Koreans. Additionally, calf reduction surgeries are relatively popular in South Korea, and essentially do not exist elsewhere. All of this helps to demonstrate how different plastic surgery trends and practices can actually be across borders.
