'Too tall, too fat, and too dark': One woman's 'soul crushing' discovery that she 'wasn't beautiful enough' to live in South Korea

Published: 14:48 EDT, 3 June 2013 | Updated: 10:00 EDT, 4 June 2013

South Korea, which last year overtook Brazil as the plastic surgery capital of the world, is now home to the highest number of cosmetic procedures performed per capita.

And for one young writer, the country's extreme emphasis on appearance and immersion in western celebrity culture was so overwhelming that she decided to move back to America.

In an essay for Buzzfeed, Ashley Perez, who identifies as Cuban, Filipino and Korean-American, reveals how during a year teaching English to fourth-graders in Daegu, she was ridiculed for her 'very big' U.S. size 8 body, 'too dark' skin tone, and 'plain face' features.

Inadequate: Ashley Perez (pictured) from Cuban, Filipino and Korean-American heritage, reveals how during a year teaching English in Daegu, she was ridiculed for her 'very big' U.S. size 8 body, 'too dark' skin, 'plain face'

Miss Perez, who is in her twenties, explained that though she has the round face and high cheekbones of her fellow Koreans, the culture is one in which people strive to look the same, and the differences in her appearance singled her out as a girl who 'didn't quite stack up.'

'In my case, I was too tall, too fat, and too dark — traits that are not typically considered beautiful by Korean standards,' she wrote. 'In many ways, being partially Korean actually made my experience more difficult than that of my foreign white friends.'

Recently it was revealed that in South Korea, double eyelid surgery, which creates the Caucasian crease many Asian women do not naturally have, has become as common as going to the dentist.

Beauty standards: An advertisement in a Seoul subway encourages women to have double-jaw surgery in order to have a smaller, more 'delicate' face shape

Risky: Another ad extolls the beauty virtues of the procedure - which can take months to recover from and can leave some patients with facial paralysis

Going behind the scenes of Seoul Fashion Week for Vice magazine's online series Fashion Week Internationale, host Charlet Duboc last year uncovered the country's quest for a stereotypical vision of a western face - something Miss Perez is now very familiar with.

Soul crushing: For Miss Perez (pictured), the emphasis on appearance was so overwhelming that she decided move back to America

Miss Perez's experiences at school stood out in particular. She recalls watching a fellow teacher 'starve herself' on a diet of black beans, grapes, and weight-loss shakes, and says high school students were handed leaflets advertizing plastic surgery outside the school gates.

Even among the younger students, she says, there was a bullying incident that left a child sobbing because she had been branded 'The Mayor of Africa' for having slightly darker skin than her peers.

While she described her experience as 'largely positive,' she said that ultimately, the year was 'soul-crushing'.

Sales assistants in make-up stores would tell her that her skin was too dark for the products available, she reveals.

And fitting into the vast arrays of 'cheap, trendy clothing,' Miss Perez found it impossible - and confidence-crushing - to find anything that fit her because the single 'free size' option was far too small.

'Whereas in the United States I’m smaller than the average woman — size 8 bottoms, medium tops, and a size 8.5 shoe — in Korea, I truly felt like a whale,' she wrote.

Indeed, in a bid to change their looks, 20per cent of women between the ages of 19 and 49 in Seoul, the country's capital city, admitted they had gone under the knife.

According to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, the most popular surgical procedures include double eyelid surgery, lipoplasty - which uses high-frequency sound waves to eliminate fat - and nose jobs.

Extreme lengths: A Korean plastic surgeon demonstrates double eyelid surgery which makes the eyes appear larger; 20per cent of women between the ages of 19 and 49 in Seoul admitted they had gone under the knife

'I think South Korea has a very rigorous and narrow definition of beauty because we’re an ethnically homogenous society and everyone looks pretty much the same, said Joo Kwon, the founder of JK Plastic Surgery Center - one of the country's largest clinics.

Tired of living in a culture she 'literally couldn’t fit into,' Miss Perez decided not to re-sign her teaching contract for another year and return to America.

She admits, sadly, that she was 'sick of feeling of ugly in a country that was once home to my ancestors.'