Peer Pressure Plastics

It wasn't too many generations ago that South Korean kids had no control over their looks. Their hair, for example, was considered a gift from their parents — never to be cut. But today, kids drop into the plastic surgeon's office after school, and when they get home their folks can barely recognize them.

As in the rest of Asia, South Korea's primary cosmetic obsession is with the eyes. Having bigger eyes is every girl's dream, and it can now be realized through a simple $800 operation, in which a small incision or suture is made above the...

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