It’s difficult to ignore the Korean aesthetic wave that’s been hitting shores all over the world and sweeping through the pages of most beauty magazines. Medical tourism is a lucrative and an integral engine in South Korea’s economic growth. You can see them on the streets - billboards and patients alike!
“Hey Sexy Lady!” - The definitive line from PSY’s definitive global hit song Oppa Gangnam Style seemed like a ‘definitive reminder’ as one wanders through Seoul's Apgujeong Station that’s plastered and dominated with adverts for cosmetic and plastic surgery services. Wait, ‘Definitive reminder’?
Well, unless one has been living without the medium of television or access to the internet (or basically been asleep for the past decade), it’s difficult to ignore the Korean aesthetic wave that’s been hitting shores all over the world and sweeping through the pages of most beauty magazines. Medical tourism is a lucrative and an integral engine in South Korea’s economic growth.
Another factor for the boom in international interest in South Korea’s aesthetic services is cost.
The continuous advancement in medical technology, the easy accessibility to service providers and the high-standard of practicing medical professionals are just some factors for the success and continual growth of the industry. With assistance and financial from government bodies, the appeal of South Korea’s medical tourism has become even more greater, casting its influential net across the globe.
Another factor for the boom in international interest in South Korea’s aesthetic services is cost. The difference in price and cost, which is comparatively cheaper to elsewhere in the world, has been drawing medical tourists from all over. This is done without compromising on Quality which is also a definitive pulling factor.
Billboards advertising plastic surgery services like the ones in Apgujeong Station can be found all over Seoul.
Perhaps there is a reason that ads as such appears in subway stations (as in the example of Apgujeong). Koreans see beauty not as something to be envied but something to be attained and it’s achieved through hard work.
Perhaps it’s this attitude towards beauty that makes it commercially sensible to have ads at such places. The human traffic made up hardworking train commuters makes an ideal target group for the advertisers. Whatever the reason may be, one thing is for sure, Koreans themselves are turning up in numbers to get something done at the many clinics and centres.
The concept and idea of beauty in its natural form is subjective and it is true even for aesthetically-enhanced beauty.
South Korean generally opt for nose-fillers and augmentations, changing of the face shape and eye when it comes to plastic surgeries. These specific needs and preferences may not differ much from that of the typical majority seeking aesthetic enhancements. The difference however can be found in the beauty trends that prevail in South Korea.
Who would have thought of eyebags as a beauty trend? Well in South Korea, Aegyo Sal as its better known has been the must-have of people seeking to look better and younger including many celebrities. In a nutshell, Aegyo Sal is actually an emphasis on the youthful fullness that occurs naturally below the lower lashes during young which fades away as a person ages; these little pockets of fat deposits below the eyes actually enhance the eyes making them look bigger than they actually are.
The Aegyo Sal popularity trend extends outside of South Korea.
In Singapore, Privé Clinic, a one-stop age-management clinic, has seen an increase in demand for the procedure also known as the Korean Love Band Eyes. Though as with other cosmetic or plastic surgical procedures, the end result will have its fair share of detractors but as the saying goes one man’s meat is another’s poison.
South Korea’s reputation arguably as the plastic surgery capital of the world seemed valid with the numerous praises and coverage given to her booming industry, namely Medical Tourism. Her definition and most importantly deliverance of beauty has become a global benchmark. Via its K-POP and K-DRAMA exports, South Korea wooed and enticed people all over the world with her definition of beauty and with an impressive Medical Tourism portfolio; she made them believers.
“Hey Sexy Lady!” Indeed.
