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By Yoon Ja-young
Now that the annual college entrance exam, the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), is over, hundreds of thousands of students, who will graduate from high school in a couple of months, have a long list of post-exam plans, such as traveling or getting their driver's licenses.
Also included on their to-do list, for some, is getting cosmetic surgery. Unlike in the past, many parents have become supportive of their children's plans to go under the knife to change their looks. Numerous postings can be found online in which parents are making inquiries about beauty clinics. But some experts say that, for teenagers who are not fully grown yet, such a decision should be made very carefully.
"I want double eyelid surgery for my son who finished the CSAT. We plan to go to Apgujeong-dong in Gangnam District, but I want to get as much information as possible before visiting. Could you give me tips, such as how much it costs approximately and the clinics that are reputable?" one mom wrote.
"My niece took the CSAT, and I am glad that she got a good score. She wants to get nose surgery before entering college, as she thinks her hooked nose is a disadvantage, and I told her mom that I would pay for the surgery as a gift for her getting into college. Could you recommend a good clinic in Incheon?" another user wrote.
Plastic surgeon Hur Wu-jin said on the YouTube channel, "Gangnam Eonni," which provides information on plastic surgery, that many people consider their high school senior year as the right time to improve their appearance.
"High school senior year, the third and fourth years of college, and right before getting a job are the peak times for plastic surgery," he said.
"This is because these are the times when one transfers from one social group to another. That's when they can avoid the attention (that comes due to the surgery)."
Since they have more than a couple of months until freshman orientation programs, high school seniors have time to "look natural" after the surgery, the surgeon added. It is thus a peak season not only for cosmetic surgery, but also for dermatology or ophthalmology clinics where they can get laser vision correction surgery.
| Signs for plastic surgery clinics are seen in Apgujeong-dong, Gangnam District, Seoul, in this November 2012 file photo. Korea Times file |
Clinics are also offering promotions, rolling out discounts for CSAT takers who bring their exam identification slips with them. Often, their parents are also offered discounts on the grounds that they too have done hard work supporting their children.
According to a 2020 survey by Gallup Korea, 89 percent of Koreans believe a person's looks matter either somewhat or a lot in life, while only 11 percent said that they do not. Young women tend to think that how they look matters a lot, while men in their 50s or older were the group that was the least likely to think so. Asked whether having plastic surgery with the goal of getting a job or getting married is acceptable, 67 percent of respondents were positive, while 28 percent said that it was not desirable. In the survey, 25 percent of women in their 20s said that they had undergone plastic surgery, which is lower than the 31 percent in a 2015 survey.