A disturbing new trend of DIY plastic surgery is gaining steam among teenagers in Korea. Several young people are buying shady tools and signing up for treatments online to avoid expensive procedures, while changing their faces and bodies all by themselves.
According to NBC News, untold numbers of Koreans, Chinese and Southeast Asian tourists have come to Korea to get work done.
But with such inaffordable prices attached to many popular surgeries from nose jobs to jaw alterations, many young men and women are doing their own cosmetic enhancements. The dangerous craze is popular among "anxious Korean teens, who lack the funds to purchase the rarified good looks plastered on subway and bus advertisements. "
Impatient and unable to shell out thousands for treatments, these youngsters are trying to make things easier for themselves.
According to the NBC report, dozens of high school friends in Korea are relying on cheap self-applications and scantly regulated tools bought online. Their goal is to contort and alter their bodies to fit some beauty ideal. The process of "doing it yourself" usually doesn't involve self-mutilation, but there are some exceptions.
But cosmetic surgeons find DIY to be very harmful, and discourage patients from going that route.
Teens, however, are heeding the warnings and indulging in potentially hazardous processes.
One gimmick involves wearing a particular brand of eccentric glasses to force your eyes to stay open without blinking. The purpose is to provide a cheaper version of double-eyelid surgery, which the product's creators said aims to give Asians a "Hollywood look." Teens can buy a pair on the web for anywhere from $5 to $20.
Another popular contraption is the $6 jaw-squeezing roller device, which supposedly pushes the jaw line into a pleasing petite, oval form. Though painful, the treatment is less grueling than the infamous double-jaw surgery, a recent fad among South Korean and Chinese women. The procedure involves cutting off and realigning part of the jaw bone, and carries the risk of permanent damage, reported NBC.
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