WITH THESE EYES
Plastic surgery is a global obsession, but eyelid surgery has Asians asking how much eye shape is li
By John Lee
If you have a Korean mom, chances are she's suggested you get a little work done. It is a cultural phenomenon, but clearly Koreans aren't alone. Look at what's on TV: The Swan, MTV's I Want a Famous Face, Extreme Makeover, the cable network FX drama series Nip/Tuck, and the Learning Channel's 10-part series on plastic surgery, Body Work - the American public is clearly fascinated by the premise that anything and everything can be "improved." Even evidence of your ethnic heritage. Like having Asian eyes.
Double eyelid surgery, or s'sangkapul in Korean, is an option for Asians, and by some estimates as many as four out of every 10 women in Korea have the procedure done. Akin to the slightly antiquated "eyelift" or the solution to "tired eyes" featured in TV Guide advertisements of yore, Asian blepharoplasty has become a relatively common procedure that adds a fold or crease to an upper eyelid where once was none. What makes the procedure noteworthy is not the mechanics of how, but its appeal for so many Asians, as it is now often likened to having braces on your teeth.
"If you can look a little better, and you have the money, why not do it?" says Jan Kim, a 27-year-old Koreatown resident who underwent the one-hour outpatient surgery two years ago and is one of few people willing to speak openly about having it done. "I don't think there's anything wrong with it. It doesn't totally change the way you look. It's just enhancing and convenience. People who have it naturally don't know the pain and frustration of having to put on makeup."
For single-lidded, coming-of-age girls and young women, the most common reasons for having the procedure are convenience, cutting down the time it takes to put on makeup, and ending the routine swelling and puffiness that constitute what is referred to among many Asian women as a "bad eye day."
Many Asians in the United States and abroad still battle the idea that s'sangkapul is a rejection of their cultural heritage. Given that narrow, almond-shaped eyes are the Asian physical trait most often reduced to caricature in popular culture, it should come as no surprise that it tops the list of cosmetic procedures sought by Asian Americans. That it is even more widespread in Asian countries is a strong endorsement for the transnationalists.
"While the 'ethical baggage' associated with undergoing cosmetic eyelid surgery has all but disappeared in contemporary thought, a few people still insist on investing the topic of Asian blepharoplasty with overtones of cultural rejection," writes Dr. Frank Meronk Jr., whose Oxnard practice specializes in eyelid plastic surgery. Meronk's website, where this commentary is posted, specifically addresses the concerns of Asian patients. "Critics expressing such sentiments are far too narrowly focused, but so also are those who categorically reject the obvious influence of one culture upon another in today's highly interconnected world." Meronk declined to respond to repeated requests for an interview.
There is a century-long history to the eyelid surgery, which begins in Japan. It was introduced by surgeon K. Mikamo in 1896, 28 years after Commodore Perry first landed there, just as the country was opening to the outside world, and suggests a direct connection between the introduction of western culture and a desire for the artificial eyelid crease.
Having lived in various Korean enclaves since immigrating to Los Angeles at age six, Jan Kim categorically rejects notions that, by having the operation, she is in denial of her ethnicity. "The thought never crossed my mind that I wanted to look more white," says Kim, who is active in the Korean community and a campaign staff worker for a Los Angeles City Council candidate. "I don't think it's like, we all want to look Western. It's not so much an issue in our community. And it never was with me."
The eyelid fold is a dominant genetic trait found in nearly all non-Asians and about half of the Asian population. In Korea, one study estimated that only about one-quarter of the population has a naturally occurring eyelid fold.
The opening and closing of the eyelid is controlled by a levator muscle - however, in non-Asians an extension of this muscle causes a crease or fold when the eye opens. Asians without the muscle extension instead have an additional layer of fat that creates a perpetually smooth eyelid. The double eyelid surgery consists of cutting away "extraneous" fat, then stitching the thinned eyelid skin to the levator muscle. Once healed, the attached eyelid forms a crease, dividing the eyelid in two.
Eyelid surgery was the fourth most popular cosmetic procedure overall last year, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, with the figure at 246,633 of the more than 8.7 million total procedures performed in the United States. Although no licensing body records statistics on the ethnicity or number of people worldwide who've undergone the surgery, it has been cited as the most popular form of plastic surgery for Asian women (and girls) of all ages, and that as many as 40 percent of Koreans have had the procedure done. Which leads many non-Koreans to opine (perhaps not falsely) that the peninsula nation has a particular obsession with either plastic surgery, a more Western appearance, or both.
Although many Koreans were offended by comments made to that effect by reporter Lisa Ling during an October episode of Oprah, similar statements by homegrown news outlets have been taken as fact. With burgeoning incomes and rising capitalist values, mainland China is now being touted as an emerging plastic surgery powerhouse.
One of the more thoughtful treatises on the eyelid subject was aired this spring on MTV's SuChin Pak's My Life (Translated) and chronicled in her online journal. Pak says she considered undergoing the double eyelid procedure as she was growing up, but ultimately decided against it. The second episode of the series features the trials of another young woman's journey from contemplation through actual surgery. Via Pak's personal reflection and family observations, MTV viewers get an intimate view of a subject glossed over by most non-Asians.
"My mom has a natural crease in her eye and, by Asian standards her eyes are big," writes Pak. "But it's funny because to a non-Asian, her eyes are just as small as mine. We have small eyes. WE'RE ASIAN! It's completely a cultural thing, it's not like having liposuction or a boob job, it's not about being vain, so much as it is about the influence of Western beauty on other cultures.
"This isn't an episode about body image as much as it is about self image, how you perceive the way you look," continues Pak. "What do you feel when you look in the mirror? I just wanted to fit in more."Published: 02/03/2005
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