When she was seventeen years old, every time she looked at herself in the mirror, she always felt that her face was too round, her lips were too thin, and her nose was not straight enough. These subtle grievances took root in my heart like seeds and ended up on the list of cosmetic plastic surgeries. For many teenagers, the unhappiness caused by their appearance has become a hidden pain in their hearts, especially the Korean ethnic group, who are more inclined to resort to scalpels to solve problems. Recently, Hayley discovered a novel plastic surgery called "V-shaped face reshaping". This procedure reshapes the jaw curve and creates a glamorous V-shaped face. This surgery is extremely popular among young Korean stars, who want to change their face shape in this way and make themselves look more youthful.
However, this surgery is not without risk. It takes six weeks for fixation after surgery, and even up to half a year of swelling. For Korean women, the physical pain and the completely different self in the mirror are just a small price. According to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, one in five Korean women has undergone plastic surgery, compared with only one in 20 in the United States. In South Korea, feminist bodies are rare, and racist arguments about plastic surgery as a form of "whiteness" have disappeared. This is all thanks to the rise of K-pop culture.
K-pop** has created a whole new aesthetic that converges on the characteristics of Westerners, but is not rigid. Think of the "Gangnam style" that has swept the world, and the Korean Wave has swept across East Asia and penetrated into the Asian American community. This pop culture, and the glamour of plastic surgery behind celebrities, means that South Korea is now closely linked to the beauty tourism industry and is firmly at the center of all kinds of cosmetic surgeries. Song Mi Hee-ah, the 1960 Miss Korea, bears almost no resemblance to the 2012 Miss Korea Lee Sung-hye in appearance. Song Mi Hee Ah has a round face, a flat nose bridge and small eyes. In the 60s, the aesthetic of the last century celebrated the beauty of nature, and women wanted to enhance their appearance in a natural way, rather than changing it through surgery. This is in stark contrast to the phenomenon of contestants "bumping into the face" in beauty pageants in the past decade. In this vibrant land of Korea, the shadow of plastic surgery is everywhere.
In this country, behind every Korean star, there is a plastic surgeon who is silently dedicated. A huge industrial chain is driving all this behind the scenes, from the all-round packaging of artists by brokerage companies to the prosperity and development of the beauty and plastic surgery industry, everything is in order. The younger generation in Korea has been living in an environment full of surgeries since childhood. Many of them dream of turning themselves into idols through surgery, and this pursuit has also been widely recognized by society.
In this country, beauty is closely linked to the concept of success, and it has become one of the criteria for measuring a person's worth. This pursuit of beauty is actually the product of the collision of ancient Korean culture and modern pop culture. On the one hand, the traditional customs of the family still affect people's lives, such as eating together and living together. On the other hand, the rapid development of technology has also made South Korea one of the most digital countries in the world. Smartphones and the Internet are extremely popular, and technology has penetrated into every corner of life. However, in this highly digitized society, women are also under increasing pressure. In addition to meeting society's expectations of women's output, they also need to meet the requirements for physical appearance. In the workplace in South Korea, appearance is taken much more seriously than in Western countries. Candidates should not only demonstrate professional skills, but also attach ** to their resume. In addition to professional competence, recruiters also evaluate their appearance to look for that kind of visual appeal.
Back in 1954, when American surgeon general Ralph Milley came to South Korea, the scene was very different from what it is now. As the head of surgeons in the U.S. military, he was tasked with patients wounded in the war. However, the best way adopted by Millai is different, and it also lays the groundwork for the plastic surgery industry in South Korea. In Korean academic circles, he is known as the first physician ever to perform blepharoplasty. His name is remembered by history, although I can't reveal it here. His idea is that by creating a more Westernized appearance, Asians will be better able to integrate into the international environment. He wrote in the American Journal of Ophthalmology: "Asian-style eyelids give a negative impression and seem to be the embodiment of a devoid of energetic oriental attitudes. His innovative surgery quickly became popular. The first recipients were Korean prostitutes who hoped to attract the attention of American GIs through surgery. Soon, this cosmetic surgery became a mainstream culture, and many Korean women opted for blepharoplasty surgery in the hope of having a more Western "double eyelid", which gradually became the norm.
Today, blepharoplasty is still a popular option, and rhinoplasty is a close second. Rhinoplasty surgery aims to extend and reshape the nose so that the side of the Asian face does not look so flatter. Due to the popularity of these two surgeries, they have come to be seen as routine rather than high-risk surgeries. Koreans and Koreans are keen to change their appearance, and while this pursuit sometimes seems too extreme, it's also a natural part of growing up in a culture that is under intense pressure. In their quest for optimality, they have to undergo such a transformation.