Looks and Plastic Surgery in South Korea

            Alright, let’s talk about a touchy subject – plastic surgery in South Korea. To give you the background information on this, first, South Korea is #1 with their plastic surgery technology in the world. Like, even people in Hollywood go to Korea for their cosmetic surgery. I say this is a touchy subject but unfortunately, it can’t be ignored when it comes to Korea.

            There’s one thing I want to make very clear – just because plastic surgery is done well (but still looks unnatural, naturally. Ha!) and is popular in Korea does not mean that Korean people are ugly. Does not mean that Korean people are ugly. DOES NOT MEAN THAT KOREAN PEOPLE ARE UGLY. DOES NOT MEAN THAT KOREAN PEOPLE ARE UGLY.

            Are we clear? Good. It drives me insane when people conclude that every Korean must be ugly just because plastic surgery is prominent among the Korean people, because this is not true. Personally, I believe there’s no such thing as an ugly person. Anyway, the reason why so many Koreans nit-pick about looks and are crazy for plastic surgery is because of the corrupted society. Okay, that last part was a bit opinionated but it’s true. This fact also drives me insane.

            So we already established that it’s not because Koreans are ugly that they’re blood-thirsty for plastic surgery, rather, it’s because of the society. Let me elaborate. I think most of us who live in a developed country (or maybe it’s the same in a developing country) can agree that there’s a pressure to look good. Okay, that’s a given, it’s a natural thing, and it’s human nature to desire for beauty (whatever level and whatever style that beauty may come in). But in Korea, it's as if looks are everything. How bad is it? Some companies won't hire people who aren't the best looking. How sad is that? So I've heard that there are people who resort to plastic surgery because they want to get in a company.

            Now this isn't the biggest reason for plastic surgery though. Just the whole idea that you need to look good is strong in Korea. There are like these characteristics that determine whether you are good looking – double eyelids, tall/high nose, v-line face. For girls, your skin should also be pale and your eyes should be big if they're going to have double eyelids. Who in the world even came up with all of this? Yeah, yeah, whatever, there will always be “standards”, but this is highly pursued by many people, particularly women. Of course, the standard of beauty depends on each person as well but because these standards are what the general public wants, this is what all the women go after. As a result, a lot of them look the same. It's scary how unnaturally big one's eyes are after surgery.

            Let me make another disclaimer – I said that many people get plastic surgery, not everyone gets plastic surgery in Korea. NOT EVERYONE GETS PLASTIC SURGERY IN KOREA. (I thought the last time, I repeated it a little too much so I cut it short this time). So it's not like every person you see on the streets of Korea have been under the knife. Let's put it this way, if you live in America, you don't actually know someone who's gone through plastic surgery before, do you? But in Korea, you are more likely to know at least one person who has gotten cosmetic surgery.

             It just makes me sad that looks are so much of a big deal in Korea. Not that I don't ever care about looks, but Koreans just overly care. To the point where a Korean introduces their family member to you, instead of the usual introduction like “This is my brother, he's smart” or maybe even, “This is my brother and he's so annoying”, they will say, “This is my brother and he's ugly”. But not everyone in Korea is like this. This has happened to me before, where someone introduced someone to me in this manner. Plus I've heard of other people who has had this experience, so I know I'm not the only one. And I'm like, “...Okay? I don't care if he's supposedly ugly? Maybe something else about him that's more important??”

             Plus it also makes me sad and annoyed at the same time when plastic surgery actually ruins people's appearance, rather than makes it better. I don't think you have to necessarily be familiar with Koreans and their craze with plastic surgery to know what I mean – can't you think of at least one non-Korean celebrity who looked better before plastic surgery? But because plastic surgery is so widely used in Korea, I can name numerous celebrities like that. What a waste of money and an insult to the creator God.(806)