This is not my real face …
What’s that do? Oh my god! My chin is so small right now!
This is very strange.
This is the face I’ve sculpted on the Korean selfie app SNOW, which has 200 million users worldwide. Selfies
are actually changing how we see ourselves and what we see as beautiful.
I’d always do this in pictures, or do this. I always use filters and Photoshop. I cannot post one
picture without any filter.
But at what point do we decide to make our selfies a
reality with plastic surgery? And what is the impact?
It's unhealthy. Physically unhealthy. And plastic surgery threatens, sometimes your life.
In this episode of Untold America, I’m looking at why Americans are traveling to South Korea
for plastic surgery. And how an American doctor is partly responsible for Korea’s massive industry.
This is where our patients come to recover. So if you can
see a little bit beyond here, this is where we have our hospital beds.
This is Allison. She works at JK Plastic Surgery here in Seoul. She’s also American.
What percentage of people are coming from foreign countries at the clinic?
-It's well over half. So it's even up to 80% is our foreign clients.
Up to 80%?
-Korea is now known for plastic surgery and with K-pop and with dramas and everything. People really like that
aesthetic. So people are coming to Korea to get plastic surgery.
As many as one in three Korean women under 30 have had plastic surgery. And now Korea is a popular
destination for all-inclusive plastic surgery retreats, especially for foreigners.
They gain what they want. If they want more bigger eye, then we can make them a bigger eye.
-How have you seen K-pop affect beauty standards?
Plastic surgery among K-pop groups has
been an open secret for a while. But now groups like SixBomb are publicly
celebrating their plastic surgery in music videos.
K-pop stars are even doing commercials for their favorite clinic.
So here is where we have CT scan and X-ray as
well. So this is, for example, for facial bone contouring. We need to take scans
and make sure that we take off the safe amount of bone rather than just blindly
make it as small as possible.
Allison is talking about V-line jaw surgery.
You can get an idea of how this procedure changes the shape of your face
in this Korean selfie app, SNOW.
So go into beauty, and there’s a sculpt option. Here we go!
There are actually a lot of things you can do to your jawline, but in
real life this surgery is not so easy. It involves sawing or breaking your jaw. So
this is a pretty intense surgery procedure.
How has the culture of selfie apps like SNOW affected plastic surgery demands?
Historically, the most popular surgery in Korea has been double eyelid surgery. It
was actually popularized after the Korean War by an American surgeon
stationed with the U.S. Marines. He mostly worked on children with cleft palates,
but also performed the double eyelid surgery. His first patient was a Korean
translator who wanted to look more trustworthy to other Americans.
Dr. Millard is largely credited with starting the plastic surgery industry in
South Korea. Today it’s Americans seeking out Korean plastic surgeons for their
expertise. Jenni is an American vlogger who traveled to
Korea for V-line surgery. She was sponsored by a clinic in Seoul and received a discount on her procedures.
We caught up with her over video chat.
So when I was in middle school, or early
high school, you know how the kids are. They take pictures of themselves, you know,
like selfies. When I looked at those selfies, I couldn’t stand how my nose
looked. So I just kept thinking, “Oh my god, I’m so ugly.” I actually went to my
parents and I wanted them to help me get surgery for my nose. At 14 years old, yes.
Learning the Korean culture, and starting from K-pop, I was able to find
plastic surgery, and how good it was in Korea versus here. And I was able to discover,
like, “Oh, you can actually do your jaw and shave it? Like, wow!”
So that was a new plan for me.
Jenni vlogged her entire surgery experience in Korea, from her consultation to recovery.
I can’t wash my face or take a shower
for like seven days. And then I can take this off too. I have to wear this for three months. Oh god.
The plastic surgery industry is huge. As a feminist I am ashamed of that because
the society is forcing women to look perfect.
This is Summer. She’s part of Escape the Corset, a movement against Korea’s pop
beauty standards including the plastic surgery industry.
So women are refusing to keep their long hair, to wear makeup, wear feminine clothes, also high heels.
All those kinds of things, we call it “corsets.”
It's dangerous to be a feminist in Korea. Because we literally get punched in the streets.
Because of such threats of violence, Summer asked us not to use her real name.
I think the beauty standard is the result of patriarchy and the capitalism. Patriarchy
creates the standard. The industries create stuff to give women an illusion
that they can achieve this standard. The medical industry is taking benefit out
of that. You can never be perfect, no matter what you do, how much plastic surgery you apply.
Today is one month post-operation.
I can 100 percent say I’ve got body dysmorphia.
Plastic surgery, it’s not going to fix everything. It’s just going to
fix you for a short amount of time. It’s a temporary fix. Like, I’m already finding
more things that’s wrong with me. You can see a little bit of fat here after surgery. Whenever I
take pictures now it’s like … You can definitely see this a lot more than before when I had surgery.
Jenni is planning to go back to Korea in a few months to have liposuction on her neck and cheek reduction.
Every time I save money, I’m thinking about it.
Every time I look in the mirror, every time I open up that Facetune app, there it is.
I do feel a lot happier now though. Cause it’s like three less things that I have to worry about.
The same clinic that had given her a heavily discounted rate
has offered to give her another deal. But she’s still coping with nerve damage from her V-line jaw surgery.
I still have numbness like right here and here. When I’m like scrubbing my lips I
cannot feel this. So sometimes I scrub a little too hard and it starts bleeding. That’s kind of frustrating. When
I’m putting on lip balm, I can’t feel that. It’s OK, it’s just minimum. I can live with it. So it’s OK.
Plastic surgery mishaps in Korea are hard to track,
but from 2008 to 2012, the number of patients seeking compensation for botched procedures tripled.
Are you worried about plastic surgery’s effects
on young women's sense of self or their mental health or how they can feel about their body image?
Are you worried about things like K-pop or K-beauty exporting these standards globally?
Yes, so much. I'm so worried about the K-pop industry
becoming so huge. They sing like young girls, they act like young girls. The girl
groups, they don't look like adult women. The power that you get from beauty, that
disappears as soon as you remove your makeup or as soon as you get old and
wrinkly. That's not power. That doesn't last.
I’ll take a picture. That’s really creepy. That’s not me.
Hey, thanks for watching. Have you ever felt
pressured to change the way you look? Talk to us in the comments below. And if you
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