101 East delves into Korea's plastic surgery craze and uncovers the real price of pursuing physical perfection.



Seoul, South Korea's capital, is at the heart of a growing obsession to look perfect.

In the Apgujeong district of Seoul, the streets are lined with endless rows of plastic surgery clinics. Business is booming. In South Korea, v-shaped jaws, double eyelids and dimpled smiles are all the rage and people from across the nation, and the world, are flocking to the clinics for plastic surgery, supporting an industry worth $5bn a year.

More than 4,000 clinics provide cosmetic surgery in Seoul, with an estimated 650,000 people a year going under the knife.

But the surgeries performed by some of the clinics do not always live up to patients' expectations and the quest for beauty and profits is putting lives at risk.