BK Plastic Surgery was on this biggest and the most popular Swiss Newspaper on October 27th !!! Please read below translated article. Since BK is the main representative plastic surgery hospital in Korea, this influential newspaper company selected BK as a main hospital for this cosmetic surgery issue :)
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Tages-Anzeiger (Swiss Newspaper)
27. October
2015
Big, Beautiful Eyes -
with a scalpel
(Tages-Anzeiger,
also abbreviated Tagi or TA, is a Swiss German-language national daily
newspaper published in Zurich, Switzerland. )
Cosmetic surgery is nowhere as common as in
South Korea. What does that have to do with the war?
Many Koreans
want to look like a movie star: actress Jeon Do-yeon at Busan International
Film Festival in Seoul. Photo: Ahn Young-Joon (Keystone)
So-Yeong got a promise from her father for her
plastic surgery. So-Yeong’s father says “If
you do double eyelid surgery, you may look prettier with bigger eyes.” In
South Korea, this is a typical gift for graduation.
South Korea is now the Mecca of plastic
surgery. A quarter of all interventions worldwide are carried out
here. In Seoul (capital of Korea) alone, there are more than 500 clinics. With 650,000 annual operations, about
half of them are Korean patients and the other half of them are usually female
tourists. The industry continues to reach 4.5 billion francs. It is a trend that is supported by the
government in Seoul to such happening. From
next year, President Park Geun-hye has announced that the VAT on plastic
surgery for foreigners is to be abolished.
Even touch me
In Seoul, there are Nonhyeon-dong Furniture
Street, Cheongdam-dong luxury district and many beauty clinics. They are called Grand,
Reborn, Euros or VIP. Such beauty clinics concentrated in this Gangnam district have a
luxurious external look. Corridors are made of glass and imitation marbles. Many
look like the receptions of luxury hotels or private banks.
Above many beauty clinics, we visited BK
Plastic Surgery Hospital - BK stands for Beauty of Korea - which is housed in a
sleek blue glass skyscraper. Many women enter this BK building very often. Inside
of this BK building, you may see a human-size-standing banner with a photo of
beautiful lady. There is also an exhibit of the Museum of Plastic Surgery. The exhibition draws a line from the
Bolognese physician Gasparo Tagliacozzi, the founder of plastic surgery, to
what is happening today in Seoul. There
are detailed information about history of plastic surgery from the 16th
to the 21st century.
History of Korean plastic surgery has
begun since Korean War especially when a US plastic surgeon came to Korea. The head of the US Marine surgery,
Ralph Millard, operated mutilated war victims to restore their bodies, and one
day he operated a double eyelid surgery for a Korean woman, and this issue
marked the beginning of eyelid surgery.
Eyelid surgery became popular in a quick
period, "especially among Korean prostitutes who wanted to attract
American soldiers" Millard wrote in 1955. According to Millard, Asian eyes
were described as "the stoic and unemotional of the Orientals." But
afterwards, Korea became a "haven for plastic surgeons".
Western look
As more and more Asians preferred to
have bigger eyes, Korean double eyelid surgery became very popular. "It
was harmless than visiting a dental clinic" said Hyun-hee, a female Korean
student. "In half an hour it
was all over.” In some
graduating classes, there can be found about 80 percent of girls have done
plastic surgeries in Korea. Double eyelid surgery became a “Trend” not only in
Seoul but also in country side and even North Korea.
In Plastic Surgery Museum from BK Plastic
Surgery, methods of facial contouring surgery, which makes a woman’s face more
V-line-shaped, smaller, and narrower, had been scraped and exhibited until
recently. Recovery period is quite long and painful after this surgery, and a
patient is allowed to eat nothing solid. Some of patients lose their feeling in
the lower half of the face.
Many Bunglers
However, many clinics keep advertising for
their plastic surgery and describe it as a normal and painless process just like
face painting. Those
clinics have V-line surgery, nose surgery to make a
nose bridge higher, forehead surgery to make a forehead more round,
liposuction, and breast surgery. Elderly people usually do Botox for an
anti-aging procedure. Female patients are in a larger ratio than male patients;
however, approximately 15 percent of customers are men.
Why do Koreans put more likely than women of other nations for their
appearance under the knife, although newspapers write again that the surgeons
were insufficiently trained? There are many reports of failed operations, about
women who have been defaced; however the industry is regulated as a little.
Does double eyelid surgery make a patient
to be happier? “Not really,” Seo Eun-kook (the psychologist and the head of
gaming & cultural psychology lab of Yonsei University in Seoul) answered.
“At the moment of surgery it can make one happier but in the long term
surgeries do not make him or her happier.” Of course there is an exception: if
plastic surgery indicates a clear correction as a result of an accident then
the patient can be happy even in a long term.
"Jealous" society
In East Asia, the external has been a
higher priority than in the West. For job applications, the Koreans selected
based on the photos while Americans selected based on the written contents. It would therefore be true that cosmetic
surgery improves job opportunities in Korea, and the marriage prospects
probably.
According to professor Suh, Koreans’ obsession of external
appearance has been very old even older than the history of plastic surgery. He
also did the research with men and women, even with old people and found that
in highly competitive society, people had a stronger desire for having what competitors
already have. Professor Suh described this condition as a “Jealous Society” and
said having double eyelids for people meant having a new car or an iPhone. He
said, “they want to come up short in any case.” This research shows why Koreans
tend to accept innovations faster than other nations.
Today, beauty clinics have been
advertising aggressively and promote everyone that visiting plastic surgery
hospital is same as visiting a hairdresser. In Korea, people tend to think they
can achieve everything if they put much effort, and if they fail on something,
they blame on physical appearance: they think they should have improved
appearance even in a surgical way.
The activities of this plastic surgery
industry now reach far beyond its borders. The
cosmetics industry advertises in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, Vietnam
and Singapore with vacation packages to Seoul, including surgery. This also benefits the tourism
industry.
Freedom or expectations of the collective
Do all above conditions contribute to the wellbeing of the nation?
According to professor Suh, “in societies of East Asia, people feel less
happier than other nations in their standard of living.” This applies also in
Korea, Japan, and Singapore. In Scandinavia, on the other hand, people are
mostly satisfied in their life. Professor Suh explained that people in North
Europe have a great individual freedom.
Paradoxically, Korean plastic surgery
hospitals emphasize individuality while actually result in similar models.
Korean lady named So-yeong and her friends have done plastic surgery already
and are they happy now? “No. The one regrets and the other want to do surgery
more,” So-yeong answered.
Tages-Anzeiger.
Article was written on October 27th, 2015, 06:55
(Article is written by Christoph Neidhart in Seoul)
Source of News: http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/ausland/ein-ganzes-land-macht-grosse-augen/story/16415296
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BK Plastic Surgery Contact Information for international patients
Thailand: bkhospitalthailand@gmail.com +82 10 4783 8886
BK Medical Group Aesthetic Clinic
http://bkhospital.com.sg/
Address:
#08-05,06 Novena Medical Centre, 10 Sinaran Drive, Singapore, 307506
Tel:
+65-6397-5550
E-Mail:
bk@bkhospital.com.sg
BK Medical Group Aesthetic Clinic
http://bkhospital.com.sg/
Address:
#08-05,06 Novena Medical Centre, 10 Sinaran Drive, Singapore, 307506
Tel:
+65-6397-5550
E-Mail:
bk@bkhospital.com.sg
