Salamat, Doktor!

Koreans are naturally beautiful. They are fair-skinned, generally tall, have straight, black hair. Everything we, Pinoys, dream to have. The problem is, Koreans don’t want to be just beautiful. They want to be perfectly beautiful.

I think they are the most beauty-obsessed people I have ever met. In Korea, having a plastic surgery is like shopping for a special pair of shoes or bag, or going to a salon to have your hair done. They have every cosmetic procedure imaginable—to your usual double eyelids, noselift, and boob job, to jaw sculpting and forehead widening, to even eyeball whitening! (Huh?) According to the Seoul Metropolitan Survey conducted in 2007, almost 53% of Korean women had plastic surgery by the time they reached college. The number may be even higher because not a lot of them want to admit that they passed under a doctor's knife. Thanks to these young women’s parents who give plastic surgery as a high school graduation gift. Their parents sometimes force their children to have a procedure or two in the belief that the more attractive their children are, the more successful in life they would be. A higher salary, faster promotion, and even hitching a rich husband are some of the benefits seen if you have big eyes, straight nose, and an oval face. Sigh! Now why didn’t my own parents give their eldest daughter a rhinoplasty gift certificate, instead of a Seiko wrist watch?

One of my Korean students was a nurse for a small-time plastic surgeon in Seoul. She said their small clinic handles 200 operations a day. Not to mention laser peelings, whitening, and the superficial stuffs. Their clients are composed of old women, young girls, and even men. No wonder actors and actresses in the Korean telenovelas all look like fragile Asian dolls. Those more-beautiful-than-girls Korean boys you are swooning over? Believe me; all of them have undergone expensive procedures. No exception.

Can I have a pair of their legs, doc?
Maldita jacket
M)Phosis blouse
Zara jeans

The Girls' Generation. Clones anyone?

I’m not here to judge those who had plastic surgery. Heck, if all Filipinos had the moolah to get one, I think all of us would want to look like clones of our favourite celebrities, Hollywood or K-pop, pick your choice. The Papaya and Glutathione industries make millions from us, a case in point.  It’s just sad and alarming that we are in this day and age when we become too shamelessly focused about changing the way we look that we forget that values, talents, skills, and identity define who we are permanently and that these assets won't fade with age.

And who am I to scoff, you say? Inggit lang siguro ako! Maybe. But for now, I'm still satisfied with myself (and the Hubby, hopefully) so as not to visit Dr. Vicky. (Yet?) I'd rather cut my bangs instead.