Plastic surgery is something of a popular pastime in South Korea. South Koreans are the most cosmetically enhanced people in the world, according to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons. And people who can't afford to dole out thousands of dollars for expensive procedures -- like the country's teens -- are opting for DIY changes.


Friends will pool their resources to purchase tools online and treat one another with these odd gadgets. Among the strange devices: glasses that force their eyes to stay open (aimed at giving them the "double-eyelid surgery" look without the actual surgery; a jaw-squeezing device which is supposed to change the jaw line to make it more oval; and a tool that's supposed to raise the bridge of the nose.

Not surprisingly, real plastic surgeons are alarmed by what all of these strange and unregulated devices are doing to these kids' bodies. In one case, an at-home plastic surgery addict injected her face with cooking oil and ended up grossly deformed.

But the trend doesn't seem to be abating. Said one 17-year-old, whose identity was kept anonymous becausee she's a minor, "We want to become pretty without spending all the money. We know that these methods aren't approved of, but lots of our peers do it. Girls [in our all-girls school] like girls who look pretty." [NBC News]