Expressing natural look most important in plastic surgery

By Kim Rahn

The most important virtue of a plastic surgeon is not technique but perception, an ability to determine which operation or treatment will make the patient beautiful ― this is what a foreign plastic surgeon said, and this is also what Korean plastic surgeon Kim Young-jae believes.

Kim, practitioner of Kim Young Jae Plastic Surgery in southern Seoul, says making patients look natural is more important than just removing wrinkles.

“In a facelift, for example, the skin and fascia of the forehead, eyes and cheeks need to be tightened in all different directions, as the skin of each part of the face droops in its own direction. If a surgeon tightens the skins just upward, the patient may look younger but unnatural,” the 50-year-old surgeon said.

While most surgeons cut the whole hairline to tighten the skin upward, Kim uses minimal invasive surgery, with which he cuts as small parts of face as possible and as unnoticeable as possible ― generally behind the ears and inside the mouth. The minimum cutting has been possible as Kim uses an endoscope.

Kim’s facelifts also stretches fascia, not skin. “It slows down aging, while stretched skins tend to get back to the original state soon. But a fascia facelift requires subtle skills and extreme anatomical knowledge,” he said.

With almost 10 years of experience, Kim has become famous among VIPs not only here but also abroad. More than 20 percent of his patients are foreigners, and they include actors and models from China and Hollywood actresses having Korean origins, whose names the doctor couldn’t disclose.

Kim said the plastic surgery trend is to have a facelift and skincare together, and his clinic also provides medical skincare programs. They provide activators to the cells ― using medicine, cosmetics or lasers ― to help DNA restore the cells.

His hospital cooperates with a post-therapy clinical skin care shop, John Jacobs, which helps Kim’s patients get healthy skin back quickly after surgery. The shop also produces therapeutic cosmetics.

“Looking natural is the key in plastic surgery these days, and for that, more scientific theories and mechanism will be adopted in the field, such as epigenetics and robotic surgery,” Kim said.