By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
When 46-year-old Wah Lee Ling Jessie from Indonesia decided to get a facelift following years of frustration, she flew to Seoul and turned to BK DongYang Plastic Surgery.
“One of my friends had her face fixed here. When I had an online consultation with the clinic’s coordinators, they assured me that everything would be alright,” she said.
Jessie had wrinkles on her eyelids removed and had some body fat injected into her chin to make her look younger.
“I am quite happy following the surgery. I bet my sister will be willing to come here too.”
Medical tourism, which has also promoted sightseeing and shopping, has become increasingly popular here.
According to the Council for Korea Medicine Overseas Promotion, the number of foreign visitors who received medical treatment at its 31 member facilities marked 25,000 in 2009, a 56 percent rise from 2008.
One woman, a 76-year-old Mongolian, checked into the Samsung Medical Center in southern Seoul for five months and paid 420 million won. Visitors to Areumdaunnara Beauty Clinic paid an average of 950,000 won and according to BK DongYang, its patients spent an average of 5 million won.
Because such patients’ bills are not covered by the Korea state-governed National Health Insurance, the industry is rapidly emerging as a next generation goldmine.
Maeng Jung-ju, head of the Gangnam District Office, told The Korea Times that “I believe our future lies in the services sector, specifically the medical field. It will be a major cash cow.”
Cosmetic surgery is by far the most popular. According to the Gangnam District Office, where 70 percent of plastic surgeons in Seoul are operating, the district saw a 25 percent jump in the number of foreign visitors to its clinics in one year.
“Koreans are quite good at handling small and delicate operations,” Kim Byung-gun, director of BK Dongyang Clinic, told The Korea Times.
“While Westerners are used to reducing the size of the nose and trying to tidy up facial lines, Koreans are used to injecting fillers, creating double eyelids and other techniques that suit Asian customers’ needs.”
His clinic provides stem cell extract injections for rejuvenation and other state-of-the-art surgery services.
“These are getting increasingly popular and as more new methods are introduced, we will see more needs here, too,” he said.
Taking into account that plastic surgery is the most sought-after field even among talented doctors these days _ only the top 10 percent of the doctors manage to get a Ph.D. for plastic surgery _ statistics show that the industry will bloom even more.
The affordability the procedures here is one of their main attractions. According to the Korea Academy of Medical Sciences, Korean doctors are globally competitive but the medical bills are about 66 percent those of Japanese and 30 to 50 percent of the United States.
Some doctors pick the “Korean wave” as one of the most decisive factors behind the rush of foreign medical tourists to Seoul.