[Korea Encounters] Looking down high noses at 'quack plastic surgeons' in 1971

Before-and-after pictures of plastic surgery, published in The Korea Times June 18, 1964. / Korea Times Archive

By Matt VanVolkenburg

"At one section of Yonsei Medical Center, strange things are happening. A harelipped boy steps out with a normal mouth. A flat-nosed girl consults a doctor; next day, out comes gingerly a piquant face with that "forward-look" nose. These miraculous changes are the results of modern plastic surgery, which in Korea found a home at the plastic surgery section of the hospital a year ago."

So began a Korea Times article on June 18, 1964, about Lew Jae-duk, an early Korean pioneer of plastic surgery who was trained in the U.S. Prior to the department opening at Yonsei Medical Center, Korea's first plastic surgery department was established at Severance Hospital in 1961.

According to John DiMoia, just as American aid played a role in rebuilding Korea's economy after the 1950-53 Korean War, American medical knowledge played a role in the reconstruction of Korean bodies. One aspect of this was plastic surgery used by U.S. military surgeons to repair the effects of burns and other war wounds.

As part of an effort to convey American goodwill toward Koreans, American doctors like Ralph Millard repaired congenital conditions like cleft lips and treated Hansen's Disease patients. Millard also helped to popularize blepharoplasty, or double-eyelid surgery, variations of which had existed in Japan since the late 19th century.

Aid to provide reconstructive surgery was not always from American sources, however. In November 1964 the Belgian government announced it would provide materials and personnel, including "one plastic surgeon, two nurses and one physiotherapist," for a plastic surgery department in the hospital on Sorok Island in South Jeolla Province, then a well-known leper colony.

In 1964 plastic surgery was still quite new and expensive in Korea. At that time Dr. Lew was performing two or three operations a day, with a month-long waiting list.

He clarified that not all patients wanted cosmetic surgery, "such as face lifting, eyelid operations or making the nose look higher." While surgery for cosmetic reasons was popular, people also wanted to repair external injuries or congenital anomalies such as cleft lip.

According to Dr. Lew, because of the dual aims of the surgery, which were to improve both function and appearance, and because of the "psychological boost" the surgery gave patients, prices were quite high. Compared to an appendectomy, which cost about 6,500 won, an operation for a cleft lip cost 12,000 won, while that for a cleft palate cost 15,000 won.

Despite the high costs, however, he noted that "by foreign standards, the cost is only one-third or one-fourth. And for this reason, quite a few foreign residents in Seoul take advantage of the situation."

Though the field was still in its infancy, Dr. Lew thought that future of plastic surgery in Korea was "very bright," but "we have a long way to go. We have to train doctors who can match up to the U.S. standards, and we have to form our own medical board."

He also wanted to educate the public about the potential dangers of plastic surgery, and to warn them that though they might believe that small clinics keep their "personal secrets" better than the big hospitals in Seoul, "they don't realize that they are sometimes risking their lives at the hands of poorly trained surgeon."

An editorial cartoon about the risks of plastic surgery, published in The Korea Times Jan 10, 1971. / Korea Times Archive

That was not all they were risking, as a Jan. 10, 1971, Korea Times article titled "Quack Plastic Surgeons Defacing Many Girls" pointed out.

By that time, the start of Korea's economic growth was providing more people with the means to afford plastic surgery, to the point that there were "about 30 practicing plastic surgeons in Seoul." According to Severance Hospital plastic surgeon Lee Young-ho, however, there were less than 10 trained specialists in plastic surgery in Korea, and only three of them were members of the American Board of Plastic Surgery. At that time only Yonsei University's Medical College offered a plastic surgery course.

As a result, Dr. Lee stated that "About 40 to 50 girls knock on the door a month to restore their former appearance after receiving operations by quack plastic surgery."

One reason for this was the lower prices offered by the clinics. "Surgical raising of a flat nose" cost 15,000 or 20,000 won, while breast enlargement cost 40,000 to 50,000 won. At Severance Hospital these operations cost 50,000 and 200,000 won, respectively.

At a clinic in Jongno 3-ga, a doctor complained that for members of the upper class who did not want to pay Severance Hospital's prices, they instead chose the most expensive private clinics in Myeong-dong because "a patient's confidence in an operation is in proportion to the cost rather than the surgeon's skill."

He also stated that "about a half of some 150 patients coming to his clinic every month want double eyelids, a sharper nose, higher breasts or just to become more beautiful and glamorous." With his seven years of experience, he said that he had a 70 percent to 80 percent success rate.

He blamed some of the failed operations on the "mental depression" of some patients. He stated that "there are many girls urging him to reconstruct their features even if they are perfect" so "the operation could hardly succeed."

Taking the victim blaming further, the article stated that "Instead of acting rashly, according to specialists in cosmetic surgery, girls should know what they are getting into before resorting to quack plastic surgery."

Conversely, at Severance Hospital Dr. Lee argued that "In our country a kind of association should be established soon among plastic surgeons, so that we can set standards and improve the quality of plastic surgery."

While legal changes and recognition would come in the early 1970s, it was not until the 1980s that economic growth would support a large client base, though it was arguably the 1997 financial crisis and the resulting increase in competition for jobs that provided a true windfall for the plastic surgery field.

Matt VanVolkenburg has a master's degree in Korean studies from the University of Washington. He is the blogger behind populargusts.blogspot.kr.