You would think America would top this list released by The Economist based on a report from the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. The U.S. is actually ranked number six in the world for the highest number of plastic surgery procedures.
This is because the numbers are reported based on population size. In reality, Americans did have the highest number of cosmetic surgery operations, totaling 3.3 million in 2010. Taking in population size however, we are not the country with the most willing citizens to go under the knife.
South Korea in fact outranks all other countries for the most plastic surgery according to it’s population size: one in five women elect to have a procedure every year. It’s become an obsession in the country, and one English teacher working in South Korea can vouch for it. In her school, full-length mirrors and scales are ubiquitous in the all-girls high school where she works. Disturbingly enough, it is common for teenage girls to get a procedure done. These high school students assert that they elect to have surgery because of the fact that it is expected to include a photo with university and job applications in the South Korea. One student states that if a university or employer is deciding between two or three candidates they will go for the ‘prettier one.’
But, isn’t ‘prettiness’ objective? Well, it depends where you live. Beauty is defined differently across countries and cultures. I would argue there is an exception here in the United States: in the melting-pot culture of many American cities, it would be difficult to amass a group together who agree unanimously on what the defining features are of a ‘beautiful’ person. In other countries? Not so much.
Based on the chart in The Economist, it is evident the demands made to the surgeon reflect what different cultures regard as beautiful. In Brazil for example, there are seven times more buttocks operations than the overall average of the top-ranked 25 countries in the world, and five times more vaginal rejuvenations. In Greece, men get ten times more genital enlargements than the overall average.
In South Korea, the English teacher asked her students to describe a beautiful woman. The answer was uniform: big eyes, thin, tall, B cup. This tends to be consistent if one looks at before and after pictures on this Tumblr site called Korean Plastic Surgery. Their eyes are bigger; noses are thinner and narrower, usually with an added bridge. If the jaw line was previously square, it is now shaved down, transforming the entire visage into a smaller and more delicate V-shape. I have to say, the thought of shaving down the bone of your face enough to restructure your entire appearance is disturbing enough to turn me away from cosmetic surgery forever.
The scariest part of this is how similar all the women look after surgery. Perhaps it is hard for me as an American to understand a culture that embraces physical conformity when I come from a culture that strives to be different, and even ‘stand out’ from one another. And reading different comments from Korean women on the Tumblr, I’m not even sure what to believe. Some women claim they undergo eyelid surgery to achieve more ‘Western’ looking eyes—the most popular cosmetic procedure in South Korea. Other women claim that they find foreigners beautiful, but that’s not why they want to enhance their beauty by making themselves appear bug-eyed.
I understand the want of young people to jump on the bandwagon in regards to following certain trends. But when the fad involves a scalpel and anesthesia, I believe the parents need to intervene in their teenager’s decisions. That is, unless the parents are getting their jaw bones shaved down too.
Dr. Mike Malone and his team practice expert cosmetic dentistry in Lafayette, LA. Dr. Malone is the former president and current accredited member of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is also the official Cosmetic Dentist of the Miss Louisiana USA and Miss Louisiana Teen USA pageants. Check out his website for more information.