When beauty turns fatal: South Korea logs 50 plastic surgery deaths since 2016

SEOUL – South Korea has one of the largest cosmetic surgery industries in the world and many consider the country a leader in beauty and aesthetics. But no leader is infallible.

Recent data by the state-run forensic analysis body showed that 50 people have died while undergoing cosmetic surgery in the last decade.

A research team from the National Forensic Service analysed its autopsy records and found that the deaths of 41 women and nine men were linked to plastic surgery from 2016 to 2024.

Researchers noted that the number of yearly cosmetic surgery deaths has been trending upwards. The average was 5.6 per year, but annual deaths rose from four in 2016 to seven in 2020, eight in 2021, and 13 in 2024.

According to the research, some 64 per cent of the deaths occurred in the greater Seoul area, and 14, or 28 per cent, of those who died were foreign nationals. The women were aged 19 to 82, with an average age of 29; the men were aged 29 to 69, with an average age of 50.

Nearly half of the deaths, or 23, were due to anaesthesia, while complications related to surgery accounted for 16. Anaphylactic shock caused two deaths, while six resulted from pre-existing disease.

Face and neck surgery and liposuction accounted for well over half of the deaths, with 26 and 11 cases, respectively.

Patients who underwent face and neck surgery were most likely to suffer anaesthesia-related deaths, at 12, while liposuction led to other medical complications in seven cases.

The study suggested a correlation between fatal accidents and the size of the medical institution. The Medical Service Act differentiates between clinic-level institutions, hospitals, general hospitals and tertiary hospitals depending on the number of beds and level of expertise.

Clinics, defined as having fewer than 30 beds and primarily treating outpatients, were responsible for 22 anaesthesia-related deaths, with only one occurring at a university hospital. Researchers noted that only six of those cases had a specialised anaesthesiologist present in the operating room.

“Even in cases of cosmetic surgeries, the standards for safety and emergency care should be equivalent to those of a regular operating room,” the researchers said. They added that the actual number of deaths related to cosmetic surgery is likely far higher, since the figures only include cases in which an official autopsy was conducted after the surgery was deemed directly responsible for the death.

The study was published in the latest edition of the Korean Journal of Legal Medicine.

South Korea has the highest per capita aesthetic surgery rate in the world, at 8.9 per 1,000 people, according to 2021 data from the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. The overall industry is estimated to be worth well over US$10 billion (S$12.6 billion).

In 2025, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that just under one million foreign nationals visited the city for medical procedures, with 64.2 per cent of medical spending directed towards cosmetic surgeries. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK