AsiaNews Magazine Jan10-16,2014 ( Jan 1-7,2014) | Page 57

COVER STORY January 10-16, 2014 billion in 2011. In comparison, the figure for the global market was $20 billion. Although Koreans have played the biggest role in fuelling the growth, foreigners are providing an increasing market for the domestic industry. According to government data, the number of medical tourists coming to Korea has had two-digit annual growth rates in recent years and broke the 120,000 mark in 2011. By nationality, Chinese medical tourists have increased at the fastest rate, going from about 4,800 in 2009 to more than 19,000 in 2011. Aesthetic services account for the largest portion of the growing number of Chinese medical tour- ists, with nearly 40 per cent receiving procedures from cosmetic surgeons and dermatologists. As their numbers grow, services specialised for Chinese customers have sprung up, ranging from clinics that focus on Chinese patients to Chinese-speaking agents. There is even a Chinese-language cosmetic surgery magazine that launched in Korea earlier this year. Like any other industry, the plastic surgery industry has seen a number of trends come and go, and a recent one is “gwansang” surgery. Gwansang, or face-reading, is a field of fortune-telling where an individual’s facial features are used to tell her or his fate. Some clinics and even practitioners of traditional Korean medicine offer face-reading services for those hoping that making specific alterations will positively influence their lives. Even experts in face-reading, however, say the effects of such plastic surgery is questionable. “The focus of gwansang is the face, and that is based on the philosophy that the face is the reflection of one’s inner self. So if the heart doesn’t change, then you can’t fundamentally alter your gwansang,” said Jo Kyu-mun, professor of East Asian philosophy at Kyonggi University. “At the same time, it can’t be said that minor changes to gwansang cannot be made through plastic surgery. So, small changes are possible but plastic surgery really isn’t a tool for changing gwansang.”