Ji Yeo, a South Korean photographer based in New York, just put a photo exhibit in the Big Apple featuring images that showcased South Korea's plastic surgery industry.

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In the United States, around 5 percent of its female population has undergone some plastic surgery work, while in South Korea, 20 percent of its female willingly go under the knife based on the statistics of the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons.

Based on numbers alone, a 2013 data has shown that it is actually in Brazil where most cosmetic operation has been conducted; however, the South Korean plastic surgery industry is a very big one. It is said that this small Asian country has an army of more than 2,000 doctors specializing in plastic surgery.

Cosmetic surgery is one of the big contributors in the country's medical tourism industry as South Korean plastic surgeons also take in clients coming from Japan, China, Taiwan, the Middle East and even Russia.

According to Yeo, one of the clinics she visited has 30 plastic surgeons, hundreds of support staff, a dozen operating rooms with plenty of post-operating rooms and consulting rooms. Clients are given access to amenities such as spa, dermatology and dental clinic, library and a café.

The South Koreans are reportedly so obsessed with plastic surgery that they even have a similarly themed television show called "Let Me In." In this show, a contestant is introduced to the audience and a panel of "beauty experts," wherein  the contestants will not be using their real name but instead will use a descriptive though somewhat derogatory nickname. 

They will appeal to the panel that they need to physically alter their looks so that they can have a happy and normal life. Successful contestants who have undergone the cosmetic procedure will then return to the show so that the audience can admire their surgically altered looks.

TagsPlastic Surgery, Korean cosmetics, let me in, Big Apple, plastic surgeons, Chinese medical tourists, television, reality television