[INTERVIEW] Researcher goes under knife to get real story on plastic surgery

Leem So-yeon, a general education professor at Dong-A University and the author of the book "How I become a plastic beauty." Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

Professor shares insider's view of nation's obsession with good looks and its pitfalls

By Lee Yeon-woo

Leem So-yeon, a professor of general education at the Busan-based Dong-A University, has become an insider of Korea's thriving plastic surgery industry while working on her dissertation.

Interviewing surgeons, patients and others involved in the industry, she found her curiosity about plastic surgery grow as she learned more and more about the nation's obsession with good looks. She felt the urge to undergo surgery and went ahead with it in part to have a better understanding of the patients, only to realize that the true price patients paid is simply too high.

She recorded the process of her emotional and physical change in a journal.

"Day 1. Worst day ever. I don't remember a thing … My mouth is dry, my throat hurts, as I keep breathing through my mouth … The worst time is the night. There's no one around me. It's very hot and I piled up pillows next to the bed's wall to help me get some sleep … It drives me crazy that I keep waking up even though I desperately want to sleep," her journal reads.

By the second day, her face had swollen to its worst. She was required to wear an elastic mask that covers the entire face except for the eyes, nose, and mouth. Day 3. She could only drink beverages and liquid-like food such as porridge for more than a week going forward. Day 5. She experienced nausea and pain in her jaw. She was concerned that her jaw might have become infected.

She underwent double jaw surgery, the original purpose of which is to improve the patient's bite but that can also enhance facial appearance.

Leem So-yeon poses for a photo in a plastic surgery clinic in Cheongdam, Seoul, where she worked as a coordinator for her research. Courtesy of Leem So-yeon

Even during the surgery, Leem was conducting research.

In an effort to write a doctoral thesis, she was working as a coordinator in one of the many plastic surgery clinics in Cheongdam, Seoul ― an area famous for plastic surgery. She was undertaking her doctorate in science and technology at Seoul National University. From 2008 to 2010, she gained an opportunity to observe the industry there in exchange for doing miscellaneous tasks, from washing dishes to greeting customers at the reception desk.

In Nov. 2022, she gathered the results and trimmed down the journals containing her observations, and published them in a book named "How I become a plastic beauty."

Leem said she had never intended to receive plastic surgery before she jumped into the research. "I had my face checked by the surgeon there. And I was persuaded by his point of view, the way he sees a beautiful face," Leem told The Korea Times in a recent interview.

What started as a kind of curiosity and a desire for beauty has helped her understand more about people who underwent plastic surgery, most of whom are women. From the start of her research, she wanted to focus on the detailed process and results of women's plastic surgery, rather than reasons for deciding to have surgery.

One of her findings is that even though many jump into having surgery believing that it will miraculously transform their outlook, the reality is far different from that.

She came up with an example of a popular makeover show broadcast around ten years ago. The show, which featured a woman with "unattractive faces," followed her transformation through multiple plastic surgeries. Months later, the woman revealed her "beautifully changed" face to her family and other panelists in the studio, who are brimming with tears. The woman said she was "very satisfied" with her life after having the work done.

Leem So-yeon, a general education professor at Dong-A University and the author of the book "How I become a plastic beauty," Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

Leem did interviews with ten patients who received double-jaw surgery, but none of them described their life after surgery as exciting, or "very satisfied." Most of them suffered from a key question even weeks after the surgery, "when will I be pretty?"

"I thought I can meet many types of 'plastic beauty' if I sit in the clinic all day long. But I have never seen that much beauty there when I look back. It doesn't mean the doctors there are not skillful … In short, the results of the plastic surgery doesn't fall between either success or failure, but rather the 'in-between' of a broad spectrum," Leem said.

During the research, Leem realized that hearing the voices of the people who are related to plastic surgery, such as patients, surgeons, and nurses, are more important in helping to change the world of plastic surgery.

"I used to envy and feel jealous of a beautiful person. My past thoughts, such as my fantasy of a beautiful face, were lifted as I got to know more about the industry. I hope women (who consider plastic surgery) have more chances to listen to the experiences of those who went through the process and have the chance to see past their fantasy too," Leem said.