CHINA: South Korean plastic surgeons look to China for the next boom in the cosmetic surgery market

Record ID: 572725

  • Title: CHINA: South Korean plastic surgeons look to China for the next boom in the cosmetic surgery market
  • Date: 1st October 2007
  • Summary: WOMEN IN CLINIC
  • Embargoed: 16th October 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Health
  • Reuters ID: LVABFWOB3OYRZULVH7FNL9OC0P6P
  • Story Text: South Korea is becoming known as the plastic surgery capital of Asia but it is in China that its doctors are betting on for the next boom in the cosmetic surgery market.
    Chinese women in fashion hubs such as Shanghai see South Korean plastic surgeons as safer and more skilled than local doctors. They also want ears, chins and chests just like the South Korean stars popular in China who have gone under the knife in Seoul's best clinics.
    Beauty wannabes seek Korean surgeons because of the experience they are believed to have garnered at home. A survey showed 60 percent of South Korean women in their 20s had cosmetic surgery at least once.
    "I understand that more than 20 or 30 percent, or even a larger percentage of South Koreans have had plastic surgery. So their doctors should have a lot of experience compared to doctors from other regions or countries," said 42-year-old Grace Chen, who was waiting to see a doctor at a South Korean-run beauty clinic in Shanghai's downtown Luwan district.
    Chen is one of many Chinese patients who have been attracted to the Beauty China Medical Clinic, famed for its South Korean plastic surgeon Kim Byung-gun.
    Kim, who runs South Korea's largest plastic surgery hospital BK Clinic and is one of the country's most successful surgeons, envisaged a bonanza in China after noting that 40 Chinese women a month were flying to his Seoul clinic for cosmetic surgery.
    Now, he is trying to replicate his success by cracking the lucrative Chinese market.
    "China is Asia's fastest growing country, but in terms of plastic surgery it's not so developed. In the future, it will see a huge development.
    South Korea has accomplished a lot in the field with a large number of patients seeking plastic surgery. But going forward we hope that by serving Chinese patients, South Korea's plastic surgery will continue to develop and gain a good and safe reputation in China. That's why we've come to explore the Chinese market," said Kim.
    "In China, there has been a trend called "Hallyu" (Korea Wave), where the Chinese watch Korean television dramas and they often want to look like the female character in the drama. So sometimes they will bring a picture of the female actress who has had plastic surgery and they request to make them look similar to that," he added.
    And for many, Kim is already achieving as much fame in China as these South Korean actresses.
    "There are many imperfections, or I would say, disproportion aspects of my face I hope to change. I hope that it would look natural after the surgery. I have seen that he can make it look natural and my friends have done the surgery with him, so I feel more at ease," said Miss He, a media sales representative in her 30s.
    She is one of about 15 Chinese patients of Kim scheduled to undergo surgery in Shanghai on a Sunday in September.
    Kim divides his time between Seoul and Shanghai. He comes here every other Sunday to provide surgery on his Chinese patients.
    The most popular surgical procedure in Asia is one called "double eyelid surgery", which adds a crease to the eyelids to make the eyes appear larger. Many patients also seek to make their noses slightly bigger and more defined.
    Eye surgery by a Korean doctor typically costs $1,500 U.S. Dollars, seven times more than the $200 U.S. Dollars, which Chinese surgeons usually charge.
    Kim's Shanghai clinic, called Beauty China Medical Center, was the first South Korean-owned plastic surgery clinic in Shanghai approved by the government. Now, about 10 more South Korean clinics have opened up in the increasingly affluent city.
    More Korean plastic surgeons are expected to rush into the world's fastest-growing economy, whose 1.3 billion population is more than 27 times that of South Korea.
    Chinese government officials estimate that $2.4 billion U.S. Dollars was spent last year on plastic surgery procedures, with 1 million operations taking place, a figure still well below the nearly 11 million procedures performed in the United States.
    China and South Korea both attach little stigma to cosmetic surgery, which is seen as more than just a vain indulgence.
    Looking better can help with job or marriage prospects in their highly competitive societies and a recent South Korean survey said three in five people would be willing to have surgery if it would help their chances at work.
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