The unkindest cut of all in the name of beauty

Jin Weikun, who had unsuccessful plastic surgery in South Korea, hopes her story will provide a lesson for potential patients. [Photo by Feng Zhonghao/For China Daily]

Crackdown commences

In February, the South Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare announced a crackdown on illegal brokers and unregistered clinics, following a series of cases involving accidents with plastic surgery, including that of a 50-year-old Chinese woman who was declared brain dead after she had surgery on her eyes and nose in the prosperous Gangnam district of the South Korean capital.

The ministry adopted a series of measures in response to the rising number of complaints, many of them made by female "medical tourists" from China, about botched operations and exorbitant charges.

"Market-disturbing activities involving illegal brokers and inflated fees, as well as disputes over malpractice, are sparking complaints from foreign patients," the ministry said in a statement.

In 2013, more than 25,400 Chinese, mostly women, traveled to South Korea for cosmetic procedures, an increase of 70 percent on the previous year, with each patient spending an average of $3,150 on the surgery, according to the ministry.

The new measures require all medical practices that deal with foreign patients - and any brokers they use to attract those clients - to register with the ministry. Those who fail to do so are liable to a hefty fine and, in the worst cases, a prison term of up to three years.

However, many former patients have complained that the measures do almost nothing to help them obtain remedies, physical or financial.

Mi Yuanyuan, 39, a company CEO from Zhejiang province who lived in South Korea for a number of years, had never considered plastic surgery until she watched a TV show called Let Me, in which a number of "ugly" faces were turned into "attractive" ones. Having seen the show, she approached the clinic where the women were treated.

"I was a natural beauty, and I always received compliments about my appearance, but I went to the clinic because I was curious about how a face could be perfect. In September 2013, I was advised to have an operation to make my flat nose more pointed and to have my hairline lowered. That's when my tragedy began.

"It ended up costing me 70,000 yuan ($11,300) and the subsequent operations to repair the faults in December of the same year failed too. I now have an obvious 20-centimeter scar on my forehead. The most horrible aftereffect is that hair at the front of my head has stopped growing, and now I have to wear a hat all the time."

Legal quandary

Mi said her demands for compensation were refused, and one of the clinic's staff members poured noodle soup over her during a heated discussion.

"If I took legal action I would need to hire a Korean lawyer and an interpreter. And even if I did that, leaving aside the cost, I doubt I would get a fair hearing in court because the cosmetic surgery industry generates huge amounts of revenue for the country."

Wei Jie, a partner at the Jieqiang law firm in Beijing, said compensation cases for failed plastic surgery take years to settle, partly because of the complexity of the legal process but also because of a lack of agreed standards on what constitutes successful surgery. Even if the plaintiffs are successful, the travel and legal costs are extremely onerous, he said.