In Another Warning Sign, S. Korean Woman Dies after 4-Hour Plastic Surgery

In South Korea, the “peak season” for the cosmetic surgery will come during vacations, when a growing number of students stop by the plastic surgery clinics to make their appearance much attractive. (image: Kobiz Media / Korea Bizwire)

SEOUL, Dec. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In South Korea, however, desire for increasingly “standardized beauty” leads to a plastic surgery boom and this phenomenon entails expensive price, costing a life in some cases.

According to Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, a woman in her twenties died on December 19 after a 4-hour facial bone contouring surgical procedure. The woman, a 21-year-old university student, underwent the plastic surgery procedure in a clinic in Seocho, southern Seoul. She failed to regain consciousness in the recovery room following the operation, and died during treatment.

The police are now examining whether the hospital staff is in any way responsible for her death. It conducted the autopsy on December 22 to find out the cause of her death.

In South Korea, the “peak season” for the cosmetic surgery will come during vacations, when a growing number of students — even in junior high schools — stop by the plastic surgery clinics to make their appearance much attractive. However, they do not care about side effects of the surgeries which sometimes lead to death as in the case this time.

Last March, a woman aged 34 died during the “nose job” on her nose and in September, a 54 year-old woman died after showing difficulty in breathing during the liposuction surgery in her abdomen.

A medical doctor said, “As many beauty clinics promote ads that highlight the facial contouring surgery will be the best way to have beautiful face and this marketing blitz, more often than not, are accompanied by contrasting images of “before and after,” many tend to presume that this surgery amounts to  a simple operation.”

“However, facial bone contouring surgery requires the highest sort of expertise and sophisticated professional knowledge and the patients should pay more attention to possible side effects,” he added.

By John Choi (johnchoi@koreabizwire.com)