Breast implants, liposuction, lip fillers and facelifts were once considered shocking enough, but that’s nothing compared to the some newer trends in cosmetic surgery.
It seems we have become de-sensitized to people changing their bodies or faces in one way or another, and may have even considered it ourselves. We are all self conscious, and across the world people have their own insecurities and desires of how they should look, and what matters most to them.
We all have our own ideas of beauty, so we’ve rounded up some strange yet popular procedures from around the world. Some of them may just surprise you. (Or not, if you live in any of these countries.)
Table of Contents
Double eyelid surgery (Blepharoplasty)
Double eyelid surgery is extremely popular in Asia, especially in South Korea. The reason being, that around 80% of Asian women and men don’t have the crease on their eyelids like Caucasians do. Since the desired look for most Asians is big, bright eyes, double eyelid surgery is as normal as going to the dentist.
The procedure involves cutting the outer end of the eyes to make them wider and rounder, and making a slit on the eyelids to form a crease.
Brazilian bum re-sculpting
The Brazilian butt lift is popular in Brazil of course, and is gaining popularity in the USA as well. It involves extracting fat from another part of your body and injecting it into your buttocks. The end result is a youthful, perkier bum that is more prominent. Smart Liposuction in Palm Beach offer this if you're ever in the states!
Some of you may not find this strange, but in some areas of the world this is really odd and would never be considered.
Smile lipt (Valentine Anguloplasty)
We’ll be talking about South Korea a lot in this article as it is the plastic surgery capital of the world and has the highest number of surgeries performed per capita. Although it was first developed in America, another procedure that’s growing in popularity there is Smile lipt - a surgical procedure designed to lift the corners of the mouth to give the look of a smile. (Creepy much?)
The Smile lift is popular with both Korean men and women. According to the AONE clinic, the general consensus is that Koreans admire the mouths of westerners. It says: ‘in general Western people have longer mouths and higher mouth corners than Korean people... upturned mouth corners create bright and smiling appearance as well as confident expression.’
Dimple creation (Dimpleplasty)
So, who can we thank for this new trend – Cheryl Cole, Pippa Middleton? It was once seen as a flaw but for most, thanks to those two, dimples are now seen as an adorable facial feature that many women want to re-create - especially in America. It’s one of the most affordable procedures available to date, too.
The procedure is performed by making an incision inside the cheek and only takes about half an hour. Dimples for lunch anyone?
Leg extension surgery (osteodistraction)
This trend has been sweeping China since early 2000. It’s not pleasant (in fact, it’s similar to being tortured) and is slow in process, but apparently it can make you five inches taller. Both legs must be broken and then stretched on a rack, after this you'll have steel pins joined by screws that go through the ankle and calf, which are connected to a cage that you wear on each leg. Each day over the period of a few months, the screws must be turned to stretch the limbs. (Ouch!) And you’re not finished there either, once that is over you are confined to a wheelchair for 6 months and must undergo painful physical therapy.
Despite the agonising pain, Chinese women still choose to have it done, some say because height is so socially important in China. In fact, many jobs require a minimum height. And you have to be a certain height to take a driving test too.
Cinderella surgery
What a magical name for plastic surgery. They do love to make it tempting. But unfortunately it doesn’t involve a pumpkin, a fairy godmother or a charming prince. Instead it involves changing the shape and size of your feet by altering the length of your toes, injecting fat into your soles and amputating digits (nice!)
It seems some women are in desperate need to fit their feet into smaller shoes, or just make them look better and they're willing to go under the knife to do it. Some are also improving their comfort levels when walking in heels by having fat injected into the soles of their feet. Fashion has a lot to answer for.
Palm line alteration
Palmistry is hugely popular in Japan, and is the ancient art of predicting the future through reading palm lines. The theory is that by changing the lines on your hands, you can somehow alter your future.
Palm line surgery in Japan is particularly popular with people wanting to be richer, more successful and to live longer. It is performed with an electric scalpel that burns the flesh on your palm, leaving a scar in its wake.
Thigh gap surgery
Remember when we all started getting obsessed over thigh gaps, and people were photoshopping their bikini pictures left, right and centre? Well, this is the result. We now have a thigh gap surgery trend - and it's particularly popular in America.
By using controlled cooling, fat cells in the thigh area can become exposed directly beneath the skin to cold temperatures, which naturally kills fat cells over the course of a few hours. And over a course of treatments will give you the thigh gap of your dreams. Whatever makes you happy, I suppose.
Puffy eye surgery (Aegyo sal)
A cosmetic procedure such as Aegyo sal is a popular gift for a graduation present in South Korea. But this one is a bit bizarre. You know that little puffy area under your eye, not the dark eye bag but the slight puffiness of the lower eye-socket that matches the colour tone of the skin? Yes, the one we try every day to disguise. Some Koreans don’t have this and, well, they want it.
Image credit: Kpopsugar
Contrary to what westerners believe, some Korean women find these little pockets of fat under the eyes cute and believe they give them a more youthful look by brightening the eyes. The look is achieved by inserting a strip of Alloderm or Gortex (type of tissue) under the skin surface through two small incisions.
There are many other weird and bizarre cosmetic surgery procedures such as tongue splitting, belly button surgery, nipple reduction and plastic surgery for private parts. Quite frankly, we could go on all day. But the very clear message here is that...people are weird, man.