Drop in Plastic Surgery May Be Recession’s Silver Lining

While the recession has only served to increase the demand for placenta injections in Tokyo, its effect on the plastic surgery industry in Korea has been the exact opposite. Two weeks ago, the International Herald Tribune proclaimed that vanity was officially out of style. A trend towards a more natural aesthetic is clear both in a decrease in demand for plastic surgery treatments as well as a lessening interest in both logos and luxury goods. And now Korea, a country infamous for an unhealthily obsessive fascination with cosmetic surgery, is following suit.

According to the IHT, “reports from surgeons and local media suggest the number of patient visits each month is down 40 percent since September” at a number of Korean clinics. Such a drop would be disastrous to the industry. “People are attempting to tighten their purse-strings, rather than faces, in times of financial uncertainty,” says the Times, with regard to a similar trend taking place in the UK. So perhaps Guy Trebay’s wish for 2009 in the New York Times—a newfound focus on inner beauty as opposed to carnal—will be answered. After all, as Trebay says of conspicuous consumption and blatant vanity: “all that nonsense feels dowdier, more clunky and more gross than ever.”