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CC BY-NC 4.0 · Arch Plast Surg 2019; 46(06): 612-616
DOI: 10.5999/aps.2018.01172
Communication

Beliefs and trends of aesthetic surgery in South Korean young adults

Rachel H. Park 
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY, USA
,
Paige L. Myers 
Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA
,
Howard N. Langstein 
Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA
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Lookism and aesthetic plastic surgery in South Korea

Introduction

In 2003, the word “외모지상주의 (oe-mo-ji-sang-ju-ui)” first made an appearance in the neologism dictionary of the National Institute of Korean Language. The closest English translation to this word is “lookism,” which was first used in 1978 in the Washington Post magazine [1]. The term is defined as “prejudice or discrimination based on physical appearance” that falls short of the societal notions of beauty [2]. With the rise of “lookism” in South Korea, plastic surgery has grown from a subculture into a mainstream culture that penetrated deeply into the society. External appearance is now considered a pivotal factor that contributes to professional achievements and interpersonal relationships [3]. Correlation between attractiveness and success is not a new concept nor is it limited to South Korea [4]; however, over recent decades this phenomenon of “lookism” has led many individuals to pursue cosmetic surgery as a means for reaching social and professional success.

Through electronic surveys and personal interviews, the attitudes and beliefs surrounding aesthetic surgery of young adults in South Korea are explored. More specifically, Korean young adults’ viewpoints and motivations to undergo plastic surgery are addressed, including concerns regarding potential employment. Finally, differences between male and female participants are investigated to assess if there are any gender-specific opinions toward aesthetic surgery procedures.


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Methods

After obtaining University of Rochester Research Subjects Review Board approval (RSRB 00057399), volunteers in South Korea were recruited through online advertisements posted on the three major job-searching Internet forums on “naver.com,” the largest search engine in South Korea. The posting included the study information, as well as the link to the survey. The survey was open for 6 weeks and advertisements were posted three times throughout the open enrollment period. Currently unemployed South Korean men and women between the ages of 18 and 29 with college or higher degree who were seeking future employment were included in the study. Current college students were also included in the study. Incomplete surveys or individuals with current part-time or full-time jobs were excluded from the study.

The online survey was generated by REDcap (Nashville, TN, USA). This is a secure, web-based application for building and managing an online survey database. Individuals who were interested in the personal interviews were instructed to contact the principal investigator via email. All interviews were recorded on the investigator’s password-secured iPhone. The data was collected and processed by the REDcap application and all statistical analysis performed using Microsoft Excel (Redmond, Washington, USA) and R (R Studio Inc., Boston, MA, USA). All subjects who participated in the survey were entered into a raffle to win a gift card (100,000 KRW, equivalent to $89.7 USD as of June 15, 2015) [5]. All subjects who participated in personal interviews were paid an amount equal to 15,000 KRW (equivalent to $13.5 USD as of June 15, 2015) at the conclusion of the interview.


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Results

A total of 103 South Korean individuals (76 females, 27 males) completed the online survey. Nineteen participants volunteered for personal interviews (11 females, 8 males) ([Table 1]). Among the volunteers, 21 individuals indicated that they had aesthetic procedures done in the past. Females had a higher rate of past plastic surgery experience (22.4%) compared to males (14.8%). More males (39.1%) compared to females (28.8%) without any previous history of plastic surgery expressed interest in doing so in the future ([Table 2]).

Table 1.

Participant characteristics

Male

Female

Total

Online survey

27

76

103

Personal interview

8

11

19

Field of study

Accounting, IT media, urban engineering, chemical engineering, computer engineering, mechanical engineering, medical treatment engineering, economics, psychology, biomechanics, social welfare, business management, geography, public administration, mathematics, applied mathematics, media, English, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, history, pharmacology, international relations, life science, nursing, medicine, pedology, fine arts, law, design, chemistry
Table 2.

Past and future plastic surgery experience

Past experience

Future plan

Values are represented as number (%).

Male

 Yes

4 (15)

9 (39)

 No

23 (85)

14 (61)

Female

 Yes

17 (22)

17 (29)

 No

59 (78)

42 (71)

Total

 Yes

21 (20)

26 (32)

 No

82 (80)

56 (68)

Most of the survey participants indicated that undergoing plastic surgery would have a “very positive” or “positive” effect in the hiring process with an average score of 1.95 out of 5, where 1 corresponds to “very positive effect” and 5 to “very negative effect” ([Table 3]). No significant differences were observed between genders or between the groups with and without plastic surgery experience ([Table 3]).

Table 3.

Perceived effect of plastic surgery on finding an employment position

People with past plastic surgery experience

People who are planning on getting plastic surgery in the future

Total value

P-value

Values are presented as mean of the scores with the number of participants (n). Scale: 1=very positive effect, 2=positive effect, 3=neither positive nor negative, 4=negative effect, 5=very negative effect.

a) One participant responded “I do not know.” This response was excluded during calculation;

b) Thee participants responded “I do not know.” Excluded as above;

c) Two participants responded “I do not know.” Excluded as above.

Male

1.75 (4)

1.88 (8)a)

1.84 (12)

0.82

Female

2.0 (14)b)

2.0 (15)c)

2.0 (29)

1

Total

1.94 (18)

1.96 (23)

1.95 (41)

0.93

The most common reason (60%) for pursuing plastic surgery was personal dissatisfaction with external appearance. Parental influence was the second most popular reason overall (20%); however, greater for women than men (21% and 15%, respectively). Employment was a motivating factor for men (6%) though none of the female survey participants indicated employment as the primary reason ([Table 4]). During the personal interviews, however, all the participants indicated that attractiveness is an important factor when seeking employment such that plastic surgery would be beneficial. Interestingly, participants indicated this is more helpful for potential females job applicants than males. Many interviewees associated positive personal traits with external attractiveness and negative personal traits with unattractiveness ([Table 5]), theoretically correlating to a higher likelihood of gaining employment.

Table 4.

Primary reason for receiving or planning to receive aesthetic procedure

Reason

Male

Female

Total

P-value

Values are represented as number (%).

Dissatisfaction with my look

6 (46)

22 (65)

28 (60)

0.41

Parents’ influence

2 (15)

7 (21)

9 (20)

1

Friends’ influence

0

0

0

-

Significant other’s influence

0

0

0

-

For a better personal relationship

1 (8)

0

1 (2)

0.61

For a better chance of employment

3 (23)

0

3 (6)

0.03

Peer pressure

0

3 (9)

3 (6)

0.66

Medical reasons

0

1 (3)

1 (2)

1

Scar removal

1 (8)

0

1 (2)

0.61

Others

0

1 (3)

1 (2)

1

Total

13

34

47
Table 5.

Themes explored during the interviews

Theme

Exemplar

Perceived effect of plastic surgery in finding a job

I believe that getting aesthetic surgical procedures would be very helpful during the interviewing processes because applicants’ looks do matter, as I heard from some employers.

I believe that many of the companies and employers consider one’s looks during the hiring process, so I think getting plastic surgery would be helpful.

I believe that you are much less likely to be considered for a position if you are obese or ugly, even if you are competent. To a certain extent, you are forced to undergo aesthetic procedures in order to get hired.

Role of one’s attractiveness in a professional and social settings

If you are pretty or handsome, you will naturally have many friends.

I have seen attractive people getting unfair advantages during my past work experiences.

Role of one’s attractiveness in different genders

I believe that Korean society puts a significant pressure on women to look pretty. This really forces them to spend excessive time and money on make-up, hair, clothing, and even plastic surgery.

Men can get away with being overweight or unattractive much more easily than women. If you are a woman who is overweight or unattractive, people will judge you harshly.

Positive stereotypes associated with external attractiveness

Diligent, hard-working, friendly, intelligent, competent

Negative stereotypes associated with external unattractiveness

Lazy, gives up easily, anti-social, incompetent

Current trend of plastic surgery in the Korean society

Media seems to be the most significant factor that has been making plastic surgery so popular. Everyone wants to look like movie stars that they see on the television, even if that means undergoing plastic surgical procedures.

Men undergoing plastic surgery is not so frowned upon anymore. People are very understanding of the fact that men can be interested in beauty and fashion just as much as women.

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This study was generously supported by University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry Office of Medical Education Summer Research Funding.


This article was presented at the Northeastern Society of Plastic Surgeons (NESPS) on October 26, 2018, in Boston, MA, USA.




Publication History

Received: 18 August 2018

Accepted: 26 March 2019

Article published online:
25 March 2022

© 2019. The Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, permitting unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)

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