Face Certificates

Before and After pictures of plastic surgery performed in Korea.
Before and After pictures of plastic surgery performed in Korea.

 

As more and more foreigners go under the knife for plastic surgery in Korea, Korean hospitals have started to issue certificates to verify faces.

Foreigners come to Korea in throngs to get plastic surgery, since it is a well-known plastic surgery hot spot.

However, Korea’s reputation has also helped to spawn a string of funny incidents at its airports.

England’s Daily Mail reported on April 22 (local time) that, “Some hospitals in South Korea are now offering plastic surgery certificates to smooth patients’ paths through passport control when they no longer look like their passport photos.”

The newspaper went on to say, “People normally expect to see changed faces and looks, but in some cases, they look so different that they are hardly recognizable. This happens more often than not, since Korean plastic surgeons are so good.”

The news went on to say, “Some foreigners who underwent surgery look so different that they cannot pass through passport control. Some Korean plastic surgery hospitals help these foreigners pass through passport control by issuing plastic surgery certificates. The certificates include the patient’s passport number, hospital name, and the period of stay in Korea.”

According to the newspaper, for the last few years, more and more foreigners could not pass airport passport control. In 2009, 23 Chinese people, after the surgery makeover, had a hard time going back to China. They had the problem because after the surgery they had larger eyes, higher noses, and slimmer chins. One Shanghai airport associate said to China Daily, “After they took off their huge hats and big sunglasses following our request, we saw them looking different, with bandages and stitches here and there.”

“We had to compare their uncorrected parts with their photos very carefully,” he added.

The newspaper was also critical of Korea’s plastic surgery frenzy. It said that South Korea is rapidly becoming the home of plastic surgery, and people there have the most cosmetic procedures per capita, according to global figures released last year by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons.

“Indeed, one in every 77 people in South Korea now goes under the knife or needle in a bid to improve their looks,” it said.

The paper also stated, “Surprisingly, 20 percent of Seoul-residing women aged between 19 and 49 have gotten plastic surgery. The most popular one is double eyelid surgery, which can make women have larger eyes like those of western people.”

Lastly, it said, “Sometimes patients come in with celebrities’ pictures saying that they want their eyes and noses to look like Westerners’.”

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