Media coverage · K-Medicine Series, Part 1
[K-Medicine Series] K-Beauty Plastic Surgery: Face Rejuvenation Medicine, Part 1
“Before creating a youthful-looking face, it is important to understand how the face ages.”
“Excessive aesthetic treatment is strictly to be avoided. The pace of natural aging should be the benchmark, and improvement through medicine should follow the natural order.”
Editor’s note In the past, Korean doctors went to the United States and other advanced countries to study medicine, then brought what they learned back to treat patients at home. At some point the term “K-medical tourism” appeared, and today “K-beauty medicine” is taken for granted. It is something to be proud of. Naturally, we begin to wonder: in what ways is Korean medical technology drawing the world’s attention? And true beauty does not necessarily come from excessive plastic surgery or cosmetic treatment; what matters is a natural improvement, made through modest medical care, within the course of natural aging. So we plan to explore Korea’s medical fields one by one in a serialized series. For the first installment, we met Dr. Son Hee-dong of Newline Plastic Surgery in Busan, Korea, to look at each field in detail.
Q1 As we age, wrinkles appear, skin sags, and the contours beneath the eyes and along the jawline change. But I understand that facial aging doesn’t happen only on the surface of the skin — the tissues that support the face, such as subcutaneous fat, muscle, the SMAS and fascia, also change in various ways. Can Face Rejuvenation help with this?
Face Rejuvenation is not just about smoothing wrinkles or pulling the skin upward. It is an approach that comprehensively assesses how the structure and function of the face have changed with age, and aims to restore a natural facial balance.
The face is a three-dimensional structure in which many tissues are organically connected. Loss of skin elasticity, loss and redistribution of fat, changes in supporting tissues, and changes in the skeleton can all occur together. That is why, rather than treating only what is visible on the surface, it is important to look at which changes are creating an aged appearance.
Q2 How is it different from conventional anti-aging or lifting?
Lifting is an important way to address sagging. But not all aging can be explained by sagging alone. In some people, changes in skin texture and pigmentation stand out; in others, volume loss in the midface or changes in the structure beneath the eyes have a bigger effect.
The value of Face Rejuvenation is that it does not apply a single procedure to everyone. It decides the direction of treatment according to the cause and degree of aging, anatomical features, and the change the patient wants.
Q3 Does it also include a whole-body health or functional-medicine perspective?
The appearance of the face can be influenced not only by local tissue changes but also by many factors such as sleep, nutrition, smoking, UV exposure and metabolic health. Looking at these together helps in managing skin health and the recovery environment.
However, managing overall health does not mean that skin sagging or structural changes that have already progressed can all be reversed. Whole-body health management and appropriate aesthetic treatment play different roles and should be approached as complementary.
Q4 Just as urban development works with the natural terrain, compensating for weaknesses while improving efficiency, I believe true plastic surgery should never be forced; it should preserve a natural look while compensating for weaknesses. Is that right?
Yes, that’s right. Rather than changing faces to fit one uniform standard, it is about respecting the features of each person’s face and naturally improving the parts that have changed with age. Going forward, we hope to look broadly, through Face Rejuvenation, not only at structural changes of the face but also at skin health and research on biological aging.
This page is an English translation of a media article; the Korean original prevails. Suitability, results and recovery vary from person to person and can only be determined at an in-person consultation.
Medical Info (메디컬인포) — original article
The Morning Korea — original article
