Seoul, South Korea – When Alex looked into the price difference between rhinoplasty, commonly known as a “nose job”, in the United States and South Korea, she thought that flying to the Asian country for the surgery was a no-brainer.
“$30,000 or $6,000, the choice was clear,” Alex, who asked not to be referred to by her real name, told Al Jazeera, describing her decision to undergo the procedure in the country “known to be number one in plastic surgery”.
But less than a year later, the entertainer found herself grappling with severe complications.
The implant from her surgery had begun protruding through her skin, necessitating emergency removal back in the US.
“Had I known what I know now, I would have never done it,” she said, visibly distressed as she described her ongoing struggle with complications, including a crooked nose and visible hole that required corrective surgery.
“I don’t think I’ll ever go back to Korea to do surgery because of this.”
South Korea has the highest rate of plastic surgery procedures per capita in the world, according to Expert Market Research, with a market worth $1.7bn in 2023.
The sector is expected to grow to be worth $5.19bn by 2032, driven by the global popularity of Korean pop culture, or “hallyu”, which has popularised Korean beauty standards and fuelled interest in Korean cosmetic procedures worldwide.
In the capital Seoul, the affluent district of Gangnam is awash with clinics and hospitals specialising in cosmetic procedures and surgery, offering everything from double eyelid surgery to facial contouring, liposuction and breast augmentation.
While they also cater to local customers, international patients are a highly lucrative part of their business.
Last year, South Korea attracted 605,768 non-resident foreign patients for medical services, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, with the highest numbers coming from Japan, China, the United States and Thailand.
Plastic surgery accounted for 16.8 percent of procedures – more than 114,000 surgeries – making it the second most sought-after medical speciality after dermatology.
But beneath the glossy marketing and viral social media videos luring medical tourists from around the world, foreign patients face a multitude of barriers to access, misinformation and deceptive practices, putting their health at risk, an investigation by Al Jazeera has found.
