Medical tourism and plastic surgery

A Korea Times article today discusses the enormity of the plastic surgery industry in South Korea. “1.17 million foreign medical tourists” visited Korea in 2024 and a growth rate of over 5% annually. Last year, it’s estimated that Korean medical tourism brought in $1.9 billion USD.

Plastic surgery ranked number two for medical tourism behind dermatology. Facelifts and skin tightening are among the more popular services.

For more vocabulary and content for plastic surgery, see our two-part series here.

Plastic surgery – 성형수술 (seong-hyeong susul)

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Easy to Learn Korean 1550 – Petit cosmetic surgery (part one).

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Easy to Learn Korean 1507 – Chinese tourists (part one).

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South Korean plastic surgeon attempts to create the perfect face.

There’s a bit of online talk over what the perfect face looks like, in the eyes of Koreans. What do you think?

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Round-head plastic surgery.

SurgeryThe Korean internet and TV programs are chattering over the comeback of round head plastic surgery. If the back of your head appears flat or un-rounded, look no further than the surgeons of South Korea for a fix. A small cut is made at the back of the head and bone cement is injected to form a rounder surface. This is not a popular surgery, but it’s certainly the most talked about one.

뒷통수dwit-tong-su – backside of the head
성형 – plastic surgery

뒷통수 성형 – Back of head plastic surgery

More here (in Korean) with pictures.

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Government to add 10% tax to cosmetic surgery.

As the self-proclaimed plastic surgery/cosmetic surgery capital of Asia, it seems logical that Korea will push to add a 10% VAT to all cosmetic surgeries.

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A permanent smile – “lip tail” plastic surgery in Korea

Plastic-SurgeryA fascinating look at a surging trend in lipline surgery in South Korea. Continue reading

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