We’ve written plenty of crazy plastic surgery stories about people who’ve gone way overboard in their quest for perfection. Remember the human Ken doll and real-life Barbie? Stories like these fill us with feelings of both fascination and pity. Why would someone do that to their face and/or body?

While there’s a bunch of messed up surgeries out there (bum implants, I’m looking at you), nothing breaks my heart more than double eyelid surgery. As someone of Asian descent, I can’t help but cringe every time eyelid surgery is mentioned.

For those who aren’t aware, eyelid surgery gives Asian people the tiny fold that would constitute an eyelid.

It’s extremely popular in Korea, but I know it goes on among people of Filipino and Chinese descent too. Korean and Chinese people often have monolids (the lack of an eyelid crease) and opt to get the surgery done.

The Tumblr called Korean Plastic Surgery illustrates the dramatic effects of double eyelid surgery. South Korea is the country with the highest rate of plastic surgery per capita with one in five women in Seoul having undergone some type of plastic surgery. And we thought Hollywood was obsessed with appearance.

Not only do many women and some men undergo eyelid surgery, they also have their jawbones shaved to obtain a more V-shaped look and their noses made to look narrower and more streamlined. The surgeries are really popular among Korean teenagers, and many attribute their desire for larger eyes and V-shaped jawlines to Asian celebrity culture, which includes K-pop stars, actresses and beauty queens who’ve gone under the knife.

“K-pop influences our societal view of how one has to look,” one 17-year-old tells KoreanAm magazine. “My grandma looks at me and says, ‘Hyunjin, I think you need to fix your nose.’ I want to get double eyelid surgery and make my nose taller. I also want to get the front of my eye elongated so that my eyes appear larger.”

There are plenty of reasons someone might choose to get plastic surgery, and I can’t fully understand why someone would want to change their appearance in such a dramatic way, but I have to admit: when I look at these photos, my heart breaks for these people.