Changing Faces: South Korea’s Plastic Surgery Phenomenon

Nearly 1 million cosmetic procedures take place in South Korea every year. We delve deep into the effect the nation has had on the rest of the globe.

With more cosmetic surgeries performed per capita than any other nation on earth, South Korea has earned the reputation as the world’s plastic surgery capital. Nearly 1 million procedures take place in South Korea every year, and this number is growing. Skin whitening, nose jobs and double eye-lid surgery are the most sought-after operations in the nation, suggesting that a desire for ‘whiteness’ is at the root of a lot of the aspirational aesthetic for Koreans.

Why is this? Well, it could be down to the high population density in South Korea’s major cities, meaning that people are constantly confronted with other people’s faces all the time. Competition and comparison thrive in such conditions. There is also not a huge amount of ethnic diversity in South Korea, so inevitably a closer comparison forms among people of the same skin colour and facial configuration. What’s more, Koreans’ appearance is becoming their major export.

K-beauty is the biggest trend of the last few years in the fashion and beauty scene. With significantly more advanced technology and product design (it is estimated that the South Korean beauty industry is about 10–12 years ahead of the rest of the globe), South Korea is responsible for the invention of BB and CC creams, sheet masks and the use of slime snail in beauty regimens, all of which have become staples of the global beauty market. Thanks to the rise in K pop and Korean beauty bloggers, westerners’ infatuation with Korea has grown and South Korea now accounts for nearly 3% of all global cosmetics sales.

Korean beauty regimes are far more fastidious than the usual three-step process westerners use: cleanser, toner, moisturiser. Korean women’s usual cleansing routine involves about 7–12 steps, and they use around 18 skincare products a day, spending seven times what the average American woman spends on beauty. This isn’t just the glitzy supermodels either, this is regular people. Is there any wonder so many Korean women are turning to plastic surgery when so much attention is paid to physical appearance?

Interestingly though, after reaching peak beauty saturation, there is a rebellion against this image-led culture. Korean women on the internet are embracing the ‘escape the corset’ movement in which they break free of the societal pressures to look perfect, being seen destroying their make-up and cutting their hair into a bowl cut, wearing glasses rather than contact lenses and dressing minimally in an attempt to look ‘genderless’. This is coming as part of a broader political movement demanding change, but it’s very telling that redefining South Korea’s narrow definition of beauty is at the root of this movement.

Perhaps the phenomenon within South Korea might be coming under question within the nation, but there’s no doubt that the rest of the world’s obsession with all things ‘K’ is showing no signs of going anywhere fast.