“Joker Lips” New Cosmetic Surgery Trend in Korea?

A photo on Reddit of an anonymous girl smiling with lips curled at the edges spawned the media attention to what is now called the “Joker Lips”. It was dubbed to be so because this cosmetic procedure creates a lip shape that is reminiscent of the infamous villain.

South Korea has earned its reputation for being the cosmetic surgery capital of the world. This is evidenced in studies which said that one in five women have had some form of cosmetic surgery done. The astounding numbers of procedures done in Korea is no longer news breaking, but there are certain procedures there that can certainly raise some eyebrows – enter the lip lift.

The surgery involves having to cut the corners of the mouth to extend it further and then restitching them so that it forms into an upturned perma-smile.

This procedure is actually in practice for many years now. In fact it was introduced over fifty years ago with the original purpose of correcting downturned mouth corners which results with facial aging. In Korea, this procedure which was also dubbed as the Smile Lipt (read: lip lift) is just the traditional mouth lift done but for the purpose of giving the patient a permanent smile or mouth curls.

The procedure was described by surgeons to create a natural lift to the corners of the mouth allowing it to stay upturned even on an unemotional face. The lips will have a more distinctive lift when the person smiles.

The results that the Koreans intend to have was something that western standards consider to be unnatural. It was even considered as the exact complication of the lip lift should the procedure go wrong, but this seems to be the “in thing” for Koreans as it makes their facial features more interesting.

A certain Korean cosmetic surgeon even said that when the corners of the mouth are lifted this creates a more jolly appearance which exudes confidence and sincerity.

As South Korea remains on the top spot of having the most cosmetic surgeries done per capita based on the data gathered by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, procedures like this just might add more requests for appointments.

But in a country that puts strong emphasis on beauty, this puts pressure on women to look and stay beautiful even if it takes numerous surgical tweaking to achieve it. Cosmetic surgery is not only something that they do to make themselves look and feel better, but it is also a way for them to find a husband which they are required to do before they hit thirty.

Appearance is also critical in landing jobs that is why women want to always appear beautiful so that they earn more nods in the job market.

But South Korea can really go to great lengths to improve appearances that sometimes they come up with extreme procedures. This is to fulfill the need to fit into the “kawaii” or cute standards of beauty.

Aside from the lip lift, other procedures that have also raised eyebrows is the jaw surgery. Although it may have cosmetic benefits, but this procedure is mainly done to correct skeletal deformities and is very risky.

But with the lip lift, the real issue isn't about how much surgery is performed but the age range to which these procedures are being already offered to. What is originally done to counter the effects of aging, clinics in Korea perform this on much younger patients.