Plastic surgery

Plastic surgery (성형수술/成形手術) is a medical specialty concerned with the correction or restoration of form and function of a human body. Though cosmetic or aesthetic surgery is the best-known kind of plastic surgery, plastic surgery includes many types of reconstructive surgery, hand surgery, microsurgery, and the treatment of burns.

Key words
plastic surgery, cosmetic surgery, medical tourism, Korean Wave (hallyu), appearance-oriented society

Plastic surgery in Korea
Cosmetic surgery (미용성형수술/美容成形手術) is an optional procedure that is performed on normal parts of the body with the only purpose of improving a person’s appearance and/or removing signs of aging.

Korean plastic surgeons once took pride in performing highly advanced surgeries, and could reconnect every single muscle, vein and nerve on all 10 fingers severed in a factory accident, but the culture has totally changed.

At Apgujeong-dong and Sinsa-dong in Seoul, plastic surgery clinics are clustered. When getting on a bus or metro in downtown Seoul, it is usual to see commercials for the clinics, and advertisements showing before-and-after photos of surgeries. They used to explicitly say that without cosmetic surgery, you could miss out on a job opportunity or a relationship. Many people save money and get loans to pay for surgery and procedures. Supply comes from demand. Supporters say many people are content with their new looks, and some surgeries are medically necessary. But if the potential demand is incited by stimulating human desire, necessary medical services may be neglected.

Korea’s appearance-oriented society is the root of the skyrocketing number of teenagers deciding on plastic surgery. The perception that the competitiveness of an individual also includes looks makes people believe surgery will be beneficial. Korean women are interested in double-eyelid surgery, nose surgery, epicanthoplasty or lateral canthoplasty, transplantation of fat, etc.

Medical Hallyu
As Korean Wave, or hallyu, attracts more and more audience over the world, nice looking K-pop stars are becoming a model whom young people want to resemble. An increasing number of foreign tourists visit Korea only to meet with them in person and to get plastic surgery.

Recently Chinese tourists have emerged as the largest group of visitors to come to Korea on medical tours, mostly for cosmetic surgery. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, a total of 31,472 Chinese tourists received medical service in 2012, growing by 63.7 percent from 2011, largely thanks to a surge in those interested in cosmetic surgery, about one-fifth of the total number of 155,672 visitors here on medical tourism. More than half of the 15,428 visitors receiving cosmetic surgery came from China.

Boosted by a steep increase in the number of Chinese medical tourists, the total number rose by 27.3 percent compared to 2011, when 122,297 visited the country for medical tourism. The United States followed China with 30,196 visitors. Japan and Russia followed next. A total of 18,462 Japanese came here seeking medical service last year, a 17.9 percent decline from a year earlier.

Thanks to the increased number of foreign patients, medical treatment fees derived from providing service to international patients reached 239.1 billion won ($209.9 million) last year, a 32.1 percent increase from 2011 when 181 billion won was recorded.