MAKE ME BEAUTIFUL

An overweight 20 year-old man with breasts an 'unattractive facial features', as well as a 30 year-old woman suffering from execessive hair growth due to a hormonal malfunction boasted that they have found a second life.



They each went under the knife and were strongly driven to shed weight.  And when they walked out in the "world"  with vulnerable hearts, hundreds of thousands of people gave them the "victory" sign and applauded them for looking "unbelievably great".


Those were the lucky two picked for dramatic makeover depicted in Let Me In, a cosmetic surgery makeover reality TV  show on cable channel StoryOn, which has returned for a third season.


According to the production crew, the before-and-after imagines of the contestants have kept viewers tuned in and attracted the most applicants since its launch in 2011.  The number of applicants increased from 300  for the first season to 2,000 for the second and to 4,300 for the third.  The show "aims to offer physical, psychological and social help to those who are suffering because of their appearances" by a panel of specialists that range from plastic surgeons to a dentist, a psychiatrist and  stylists.


"It has become harder to select contestants who we can offer help.  We have seen severe cases of plastic surgery failures, and even someone with no eye" said Park Min-Woo, executive producer of the show that targets women viewers, at a press conference last month.


And as a number of applicants suggest, more and more people are willing to cut their chins and jaws or inject "fillers" in their noses and foreheads to achieve their desire to become "beautiful" even if being on TV means that the whole country  and possibly the world, will share the experience.  Or perhaps, some suggest, it is the other way around - TV is encouraging people to transform.


"The makeover reality show has been a popular genre on cable TV networks starting with the first cosmetic surgery reality show  challenge.  Cinderella in 2003.  Since then, the makeover shows have played a significants role in driving the cosmetic surgery book and trend in Korea" Wrote culture critic Lee Sun-young in a recent newspaper column.



 According to some viewer comments, the programme makes people believe that cosmetic surgery is somehow simple in the course of transformation, which features some risky procedures such as jawline surgery, which used to be limited to people with dental problem.



However, the jawline surgery that shaves a square jawline to create an oval face has become increasingly popular after some celebrities openly admitted to having it.  And somewhat simpler surgeries, such as double-eyelid and nose jobs, has become so common  that teenage girls drop by plastic surgeons for procedures during school breaks.



The number of teenage patients at Soul's ID Hospital, whose head doctor is a panelist for Let Me In, surged 138% from 2011 to 2012, and 37% the following year, according to hospital data.


"More teenage girls between 16 and 18  ask their parents for double-eyelid surgery when they make the grades they promised"said jeon sun-young director of the hospital promotional team.

Another notable trend is that more men choose to go under the knife  for aesthetic purposes.

Male patients grew 28% from 2011 to 2012, and 14% from 2012 to this year at ID Hospital.

This year, the make up 11.82% of the total patients at the hospital , though the hospital declined to provide actual numbers of plastic surgeries due to internal rules.


According to media studies, the reality show, moreover, shapes people's attitude towards cosmetic surgery and their perception of beauty.


"Now more women speak openly about their cosmetic surgeries.  While women used to refer to someone who had cosmetic surgery in a disapproving tone, now they give them an envious look," said the producer Park.

His programme vowed that it will focus on making over one's life instead of just changing their looks, but opponents claim that it drives demand for cosmetic surgery in South Korea by glorifying the dramatic transformation of contestants who undergo multiple surgeries.

Some point out the show downplays contestants' problems to a matter of looks, ignoring overall society or other factors.

"Some contestants experience family separation, poverty and violence, which are mostly from social structural problems, but the show somehow blames those problems on their looks:, wrote cultural critic Kim.

- The Korea Herald/Asia News Network.
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