Last year, almost three million Korean women underwent surgical or nonsurgical cosmetic procedures, from the simple to the complex and multiple.

Plastic surgery has become so common in South Korea that more than thirty percent of Korean women between the ages of twenty and fifty have had a cosmetic procedure. That percentage soars when looking at only those under age thirty, with some estimates exceeding fifty percent.

Although frequently cited for their infatuation with cosmetic surgery, Korean women are simply following a trend set in other more affluent countries. Comparing number of plastic surgery procedures per million people, American women fall only a few percentage points behind.

As in the West where celebrities often set fashion standards, the people of Korea have grown more comfortable with the idea of plastic surgery as their entertainers and even political leaders have flaunted altered features.

Some of the procedures they seek are predictably similar (breast augmentation and liposuction), while others are strikingly different due to anatomical variations between the two populations.

The most popular Korean plastic surgery operations, double eyelid surgery to create an upper eyelid crease and rhinoplasty to enhance the structure of the nose, are very different from their equivalents in the West.

Other popular Korean cosmetic procedures are all but unavailable outside of the Orient. Cheek, jaw, and calf reduction surgery have attracted the most attention.