special feature Cutting Through the Plastic Whichever way you slice it, you’re sure to stir up quite a bit of controversy whenever is on the table. Some say Asian Americans are being culturally and ethnically subordinated by the scalpel. Others argue it’s much simpler than that. Are Asian Americans faking themselves out, or is it just the pursuit of the good ol’ American way? Audrey magazine takes its own look at this much-debated issue in this two-part series.

EDITOR Anna M. Park

h, look! You saved $2,000!” cent of Northeast Asians (including a modern pioneer in the field in 1963 with Reportedly, that was what one of my Korean and Mongolian) have a naturally his non-incision method of what he called aunts told my mother when I first opened occurring double . Biological “Oriental blepharoplasty.” Since then, the my as a one-day-old newborn. She anthropologists proffer several theories procedure has gained popularity, becom- Owas referring to that tiny little crease that to explain why many Asians do not have ing as commonplace in some parts of Asia appeared just above my lash line — and a crease in their , but the most as getting braces in the States. yes, to the fact that now my parents accepted is an adaptation to environmen- Despite its proliferation in Asia and wouldn’t have to shell out the amount for tal conditions in Northeast Asia — a eventually among AAs, the procedure has a future surgery. higher amount of fat in the upper eyelids, sparked no small amount of controversy, Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t a shallower or socket, an epi- even in non-AA circles. Innumerable arti- come from particularly vain stock. In fact, canthic fold (which is not the double eye- cles and essays have been written on the quite the opposite — my mother, to this lid crease, contrary to popular belief), and topic and it’s even spawned the term day, is adamantly anti-plastic anything. a lower connection of the levator muscle “monolid” — a backlash to what some But for some strange reason, in the coun- behind the eyelid resulted in a single eye- call self-mutilation — as a symbol of “yel- tryside of South Korea, more than 30 years lid better equipped to protect eyes from low pride.” Indeed, just the appearance of ago no less, the existence of that tiny little harsh weather. an advertisement in an Asian magazine is crease seemed to rank pretty high in The earliest reference to upper eyelid enough to touch off a “letter to the editor” importance — along with 10 working dig- crease creation appeared in Japanese sci- war between the two factions. its and a healthy set of lungs — to one entific literature in 1896 when Dr. K. But like it or not, plastic surgery average, middle-class Korean family. Mikamo introduced a surgical technique among AAs is on the rise. The number of for altering the eyelid — a non-incision cosmetic procedures performed on ethnic *** method using three stitches to construct a minorities in the U.S. quadrupled between palpebral fold. American surgeons have 1997 and 2002, according to the American Double eyelid. Palpebral fold. The records as early as the 1950s documenting Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. Asian crease. Whatever you call it, it is estimat- a similar procedure in the Philippines, and blepharoplasty (double eyelid surgery) ed that 50 percent of Asians and 25 per- Khoo Boo-Chai, a Malayan doctor, became was by far the most common procedure

44 audrey April | May 2005 special feature COLLAGE BY ERIC SUEYOSHI. BY COLLAGE

April | May 2005audrey 45 special feature among AAs in 2003, followed by rhino- that will make you look better? I’ve done Which is why it disturbed me when plasty (nose jobs). General blepharoplasty microdermabrasion, magic straight perms, I kept seeing terms like “westernization,” (which includes eyelifts as well as double self-tanning, even laser spot removal. Were “deformity,” and, worst of all, “Oriental to eyelid creation) was the third most com- any of these things motivated by self-hate, Occidental” when researching Asian plas- mon procedure in the U.S. overall, trailing or a hate of my ethnicity? Goodness, no. tic surgery. not far behind breast augmentation and Were they motivated by a desire to look liposuction (the most common). more Western, to fit in to that blonde Getting But is Asian blepharoplasty really a cheerleader American standard of beauty Ethnically Correct manifestation of internalized racism and that I grew up with? (Maybe the self-tan- It seems that much of the problem in this Western cultural colonialism, as many ning part — I did grow up in the O.C., after debate lies in the terminology and, quite argue? Are we really buying into the all.) But the microderm, the straight perms simply, good old-fashioned historical igno- media’s proliferation of a Caucasian beau- and the lasers were categorically motivated rance. It is true — the earlier literature and ty standard at the expense of “natural” by a desire to achieve that prototypical thinking on this topic viewed Asian ble- Asian beauty? In desiring that little crease Asian beauty ideal that I felt I lacked — pharoplasty as “westernization of the above our lash lines, do we really think clear, translucent and thick, stick- Asian eye” — an offensive phrase no mat- we’re erasing that ethnic feature which purportedly made us the subject of racial taunts growing up? (As far as I can remember, having double eyelids no more exempted me from being a “chink” than my monolidded sisters.) And what about other forms of plas- tic surgery? Also on the rise are breast augmentation and profile-related proce- dures, so why aren’t there magazines devoted to the “A-Cup” or “Pancake Face” to celebrate yet another perceived typical, though certainly not universal, Asian trait? (As stated earlier, about half of all Asians are not monolidded). Or are we, as AAs, just being typical Americans? After all, if ethnic and racial minorities made up 15 percent of all plas- tic surgery procedures in the U.S. in 2004 straight hair. Come to think of it, if my ter what your stance. Indeed, until recent- (down from 20 percent in 2003) — AAs search for the perfect fake tan could be ly, textbooks and training on plastic sur- consisted of 3 percent, half the amount of construed as mimicry of my long-legged, gery made the assumption that any Hispanics and 40 percent less than fair-skinned counterparts, maybe Gwyneth desired change was a change toward African Americans — that means that and Jennifer had secret Asian longings a more European look. According to Dr. the vast majority of procedures are still when they went for blowouts every week Edmund Kwan, a renowned plastic sur- being done by white Americans. Face it a few years back. geon based in New York whose clientele is — Americans in general are obsessed Now I know that’s silly. After all, mainly Asian, articles published on Asian with plastic surgery, and we don’t need when my Korea-born and -raised mother blepharoplasty in the ’60s and ’70s called it reality shows like Extreme Makeover and talks about her teenage icons of beauty, “westernizing the eyelid.” At that time, The Swan to prove it. she mentions Natalie Wood and Elizabeth surgeons often interpreted an Asian I have to admit — when I started Taylor — even a post-war generation on patient wanting an eyelid fold as wanting researching this article, I had my own pre- the other side of the world couldn’t help to look Caucasian and admittedly, “there conceived beliefs about plastic surgery. but be influenced by a Western standard was actually some demand by patients What’s the big deal? Lots of people do it — of beauty. But yet I refused to believe it. It because they wanted to assimilate into Asian, black, white. If I had the courage can’t be cultural colonialism. I’m certainly Western culture,” he says. “There weren’t and the funds and the time, hell, I’d proba- not a victim of Western aesthetic brain- that many Asians in America. Asians were bly do something. Who doesn’t want a washing. And I refused to believe my not mainstream. And I think some people magic pill (or scalpel, as the case may be) Asian peers were also. probably felt ashamed and like they were

46 audrey April | May 2005 special feature outsiders if they didn’t look Caucasian.” problem, that kind of tilt to the eye. And According to Dr. Kyeyoung Park, an now that’s desirable, that’s more attrac- associate professor of anthropology and tive, that’s sexier. So I think things have Asian American studies at the University turned around.” of California at Los Angeles, the ever- And hand in hand with a growing changing structure of the world political appreciation for diversity and a higher economy and predominance of Western social awareness come advances in tech- culture in the first half of the 20th centu- nique and a deeper understanding of the ry did indeed drastically change the beau- anatomy of the Asian eye, resulting in ty ideal in Asia in favor of a more more ethnically sensitive procedures. “We “Western” look. Back then, she says, now know more about the anatomy and “when [Asians] were poor and when they the explanation for why there’s no crease, More and more AA were so preoccupied with survival issues, so we’re able to recreate [naturally-occur- women are going to they also developed an inferiority com- ring] creases,” says Dr. Mervin Low, who their plastic surgeons plex, even in terms of aesthetics.” trained with Dr. Robert Flowers, a requesting natural-look- ing double eyelids, the kind that occurs in about half of the Asian popula- tion naturally, says Dr. David Kim. In fact, he says that a Western- looking eye, one with a

PHOTOS COURTESY OF DR. DAVID KIM. OF DR. DAVID COURTESY PHOTOS large crease, is some- thing his Asian patients explicitly don’t want.

The ever-popular Asian blepharoplasty procedure, before and after.

So it seems that there was a time renowned pioneer in Asian plastic sur- on a non-white subject. All of the doctors when the ethnic self-hate argument gery. Additionally, knowledge about the and medical centers specializing in Asian applied. Maybe we did want to look differences in folds among Asian groups plastic surgery that I researched likewise white — perhaps even as recently as in contributes to the ability to create that placed a good deal of emphasis on their the ’80s and ’90s. But is there a stirring, which occurs naturally in a given popula- goal of “ethnic correctness.” Again and however slight, in the winds of change tion. “Creases can vary between different again, they propound that they do not today? After all, portrayals of Asians in Asian groups, between individuals and believe in changing the ethnic character- the world media today have come a long even within the same individual,” contin- istics of one group in favor of another. way from the days of Susie Wong, and ues Dr. Low. “Not all creases are the And thank goodness — AAs are diversity is embraced more than ever same. Careful analysis of creases is crucial finally realizing that you may be able to before. “Asians now have become more in Asian blepharoplasty.” scalpel the “Western” into our eyes, but mainstream,” says Dr. Kwan. “Today, In fact, “ethnic correctness” seems to you evidently can’t take the Asian from Asians are everywhere — TV, magazines, be the new catchphrase in the industry, the rest of our resulting imbalanced faces. everywhere. So people are [going] back perhaps as a reaction to the extreme and Every time I think of a “Western” Asian and saying, ‘Hey, it’s OK to look Asian.’” oh-so ethnically incorrect plastic surgery eye, I think of Julie, my summer camp He cites Lucy Liu as a prime example. “I icon that is Michael Jackson. Makeover friend from junior high who had gotten mean, she’s got very slanted eyes and it reality shows make a point of emphasiz- the procedure done in the early ’80s. The looks good,” he says. “Twenty years ago, ing the “ethnic correctness” of a rhino- crease the doctor had created way up forget it — that would have been a major plasty or other proposed facial procedure there made her look like she was con-

April | May 2005audrey 47 special feature stantly tired and 70 years old. It was not much about what other people thought, I “[My mom] would always sit there and an improvement. guess,” she says. Although at first she kind of poke at my eyes and try to make But take a look around today. The regretted getting the procedure done — a crease.” man-made double lids of late are dainty, the creases turned out asymmetrical — And there’s the kicker: Are we as you might say, and look very, very natu- she says that even knowing what she AAs lulled into a need for plastic surgery, ral — more Ziyi Zhang than Cindy knows now, she would still do it again if not to try to look like our white Crawford. It’s difficult to tell who’s “got- because it’s made her life easier and she American peers, then because of the ten it done” and who hasn’t. More and likes not having to wear so much makeup. other facet of our multicultural selves — more AA women are going to their plas- Sally, a 23-year-old Korean American our Asian side? Some argue that our love tic surgeons requesting natural-looking who says she was happy with her looks of plastic surgery stems more from Asian double eyelids, the kind that occurs in before her surgery, says she ended up get- than American influences. Karen grew up about half of the Asian population natu- ting it done simply because “I wanted to with her mother telling her that “back in rally, says Dr. David Kim, a plastic sur- see what I would look like,” likening it to the day when [my mother] was a young geon with the Beverly Hills Surgical wearing eyeliner or changing . girl [in Korea], anyone who had [a double Institute. In fact, he says that a Western- “I don’t have a good reason as to why I eyelid] naturally was just considered very looking eye, one with a large crease, is got it done,” she says. “But for sure it was- beautiful.” Similarly, Sally believes that something his Asian patients explicitly n’t because I wanted to look more the pressure to get plastic surgery stems don’t want. Westernized. I think these days most more from Korean culture than it does As a result, AA women are opting for girls don’t get it to be more Westernized from American culture. “It’s a trend to get a non-incision form of Asian blepharo- — that [thinking] is outdated. My gener- it done,” she says. plasty because of the more natural, shal- ation is already ‘Westernized.’ We don’t That was certainly the case for lower crease that it can create, says Dr. have to do anything extra to try and be Lauren, a 27-year-old pre-law student. A Robert Kure, a plastic surgeon in Beverly more American.” former model in the States, she entered Hills who perfected his own non-incision But does that mean we’ve broken the the Miss Korea pageant in 1997. While method. “Korean patients come here with manicured iron grip of the white doing photo shoots in Seoul, she began to their mother and when you look at their American beauty standard we are bom- develop a complex. “Every photographer mother’s face [who had the surgery over barded with daily? Not completely. 30 years ago in Korea], they have a Indeed, all the doctors this writer Caucasian-type eye [with] a deep crease spoke to admitted that there was and no fat. [Their daughters] don’t like still a small percentage of Asian that kind of look.” patients who explicitly request a Caucasian face or look. One 24-year- If Not White, old artist named Then Why? Karen admits that when she under- So if the trend is not to achieve a Western went the double eyelid surgery, she look, then why are so many AAs getting brought a photo of Janet Jackson to their eyelids and other cosmetic proce- show her doctor what she wanted to dures done? Ask women today and you’ll look like. Ironically, while Karen find that the reasons range from facilitat- does attribute the American media ing makeup application to increasing the and growing up “looking at women ARTISTS. INTERNATIONAL OF OLIVER CARNAY COURTESY PHOTO size or exposure of the eye to a desire to like Audrey Hepburn and Sophia look like their other Asian friends. After Loren” as a major influence, her years of having to apply heavy eyeliner for mother provided the main source of it to even show when her eyes were open, pressure, she says. “Apparently in Jenny, a 30-year-old wife and mother of Korea, [double eyelid surgery] is a one, recently got her eyes done, despite normal thing and so she was always always having looked down on any form telling me since I was a little girl, of plastic surgery. “I got it done after I got ‘you have to get it done when you married, so it was easier — I didn’t care so get out of high school,’” she says.

The new beauty standard — do these women look “Western” to you? Clockwise from left: Ziyi Zhang, Lucy Liu and Hyegyo Song, a popular Korean actress and spokeswoman.

48 audrey April | May 2005 special feature

out there pointed it out to me. They said, We’re talking about a woman of, say, 115 ‘if you want to do this kind of work, you pounds wanting to remove that little have to get your nose done,’ like, ‘what is pooch in her belly so she can be down to she thinking coming out to Korea with- 105 pounds with a flat-as-a-board stom- out getting [her nose done],’” she recalls. ach. Or legs where the very tops of the “I didn’t even know I had a flat nose until thighs touch ever so slightly — no part of they pointed it out. I guess in Korea, in the entire leg is supposed to touch, that kind of industry, everybody has it according to such standards, and in fact, done. It’s kind of a given.” should allow for a 1- to 2-inch space Although Lauren had modeled for between the thighs. “Most American several years in the States prior to going people don’t really care about this, this is to Korea, no one ever had a problem fine,” says Dr. Kure, pointing to a with her nose. Nevertheless, she “before” photo of a Japanese woman’s returned to the States to get an implant thighs. “But [for] Japanese, there has to from bridge to tip. While at first she be a space [between the thighs].” All this, wanted the implant for career reasons, despite the fact that, according to Dr. eventually it became personal. “You only Kure, plastic surgery is considered taboo think about it when someone points it in Japan. out to you — [that] your nose is kind of And it doesn’t stop there. Doctors in flat,” she says. Asia perform all sorts of procedures few Indeed, beauty standards predomi- have heard of in the States — leg length- nant in Asia often have a profound effect ening in China, where your calf bone is on Asian women in America. According forcibly broken and then slowly, excruci- to Dr. Kure, one procedure that is fairly atingly stretched over several months; common among a certain segment of botox injections and nerve severing in Japanese women in America is micro-lipo- the calves to shrink the muscle for a lean- suction. And it’s not because of the lipo er leg; and hyaluronic acid injections to craze in the States — it’s actually the pres- build up flat nose bridges and chins. And sure to be very, very thin back in Japan. if you thought plastic surgery was popu- “When they go back to Japan — they lar in the States, consider these numbers:

PHOTOS COURTESY OF OLIVER CARNAY INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS. INTERNATIONAL OF OLIVER CARNAY COURTESY PHOTOS often go back once a year, twice a year — it is estimated that one in 10 adults in their friends over there Korea have had some sort of cosmetic are skinny, really skin- upgrade. In Taiwan, a million procedures ny,” says Dr. Kure. were performed last year, double the “They have almost no number from five years ago. And there fat around the waist- was a reported 25 percent increase in line and especially cosmetic procedures in China in 2003, a Japanese men in Japan country which only two years ago lifted like really thin legs. It’s a ban on beauty pageants and in the fol- really tough to be an lowing year, held its first annual Miss

PHOTO COURTESY OF KOREAM JOURNAL. OF KOREAM COURTESY PHOTO attractive woman in Artificial Beauty competition. Japan after age 30 Which brings us to the question: because everybody else Why stop at the eyes? is so skinny.” The kind of This discussion’s not over yet. Look micro-liposuction for part two of Cutting Through the these Japanese women Plastic in the June/July 2005 issue of undergo is much more Audrey, where we examine plastic sur- technically difficult gery beyond the eyes and the changing and time-consuming beauty standard. than your average American liposuction. *All patients’ names have been changed.

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