The success of heavily doctored K-pop stars has only fueled the plastic surgery craze in Korea, where patients are getting younger and younger.
One woman in southeastern Seoul recently paid for her middle-school daughter to have double-eyelid surgery at a cosmetic clinic in Gangnam. "Many of her classmates got double-eyelid surgery when they finished elementary school," she claims.
A growing number of clinics in the flashy area of southern Seoul are offering treatments for children. The Chosun Ilbo asked 10 plastic surgery clinics if they could perform cosmetic surgery on a fifth grader and half said yes. Four said they will operate on middle schoolers, and only one said it accepts only adults.
But medical experts warn against cosmetic surgery for children. One staffer at a clinic in Gangnam said, "Children still change as they grow, and having surgery prematurely could lead to unforeseen problems in the areas that were operated on. Some surgery involves the removal of muscles, which can't be good for a growing child."
