One thing I noticed lately is the prevalence of Korean celebrities who have large fat deposits under their eyes.

This picture of the new girl group Rainbow was what prompted my new curiosity.

Koreans (well, Asians in general) can have very warped views on attractiveness and appearances. I wondered if puffy under-eyes now counted as a desirable trait.

Internet searches brought up nothing, so I decided to formulate my own theory.

Asian blepharoplasty — otherwise known as Asian eyelid surgery — is performed in order to give the appearance of larger eyes. Asians even use glue or tape in order to create the crease that makes your eyes look bigger.

As you can see, a crease can make your eyes look bigger without changing the dimensions of the eyes.

I then wondered why the theory could not apply to the under eye area as well: can puffy under-eyes make your eyes look larger?

I am not talking about the under-eye bags that come with age. I am referring to the genetic kind — the extra deposit of fatty tissue that some people have even at a young age.

There was only one way to test my theory. I decided to take the above picture of Rainbow and remove, via Photoshop, the girls’ under-eye bags. See for yourself:

The difference is especially noticeable in the bottom right picture.

Still not convinced? Let’s try this picture of Kim Tae Hee, who is one of the most popular actresses in Korea right now:

Sure, she may look more tired with the bags, but you can’t deny that her eyes look larger with them.

I must confess that I was a bit disappointed with these results, because I do not possess this extra fat deposit under my eyes. I don’t even get puffy eyes when I’m tired…I only get dark, dark under-eye circles.

I’m still not sure if Korea has caught on to this phenomenon, as my Korean web-trawling skills are limited. However, I would not be surprised if a few years down the line, I start reading advertisements for under-eye deposit surgeries.

Do you have extra fat under your eyes? Do you consider them a blessing or a curse?