Dangerous double-jaw surgery on the rise in South Korea as women are encouraged to face risks of bone-cutting procedure in the name of beauty
«Orthognathic Surgery should be performed by a highly skilled, well trained and experienced Oral and Maxillofacial surgeon with years of expertise in the field. Upcoming medical destinations such as South Korea, are currently playing with fire setting the lives of many patients in danger as Orthognathic surgery was recently introduced in the country with the wrong motives within the context of a rising beauty industry that financially exploits patients and pushes them to change their faces under the adoption of new beauty standards. Read the below hot story as published by the Daily Mail. «
Dangerous double-jaw surgery on the rise in South Korea as women are encouraged to face risks of bone-cutting procedure in the name of beauty
A painful plastic surgery usually only performed for medical reasons is being embraced by South Koreans as the latest way to improve their appearance.
Double-jaw surgery is a radical solution to correct facial deformities and is usually carried out on people who are unable to chew properly due to an excessive over or underbite.
The bone-cutting procedure, that involves realigning the upper and lower jaws, takes months to recover from and carries various risks including permanent facial numbness or even paralysis.
Vanity over pain: An advertisement in a Seoul subway encourages women to have double-jaw surgery in order to have a smaller face
But South Koreans are now being encouraged to undergo the risky operation in the name of beauty as one result of the surgery is often a slimmer jawline.
A small face with a ‘V-shaped’ chin and jawline is considered a mark of feminine beauty in much of East Asia, along with a high-bridged nose and big eyes.
‘This surgery alters your look far more dramatically than, say, Botox or a nose job because it changes your entire facial bone structure,’ said Choi Jin-Young, a professor in dentistry at Seoul National University.
He added: ‘But it’s a very complex, potentially dangerous surgery … it’s disturbing to see people with no real dental flaws daring to go through it just to have a small, pretty face.’
Risky: Another ad extolls the beauty virtues of the procedure — but it can take months to recover from and can leave some patients with facial paralysis
Despite the risks, the country’s booming beauty business is keen to capitalise on the latest cosmetic surgery trend and posters advertising the procedure are rife.
One poster advertising a cosmetic clinic at a subway station in Seoul states they are: ‘The double-jaw surgery clinic chosen by the pickiest ladies.’
‘Everyone but you has done it,’ states another advert for the procedure on a bus.
A number of South Korean celebrities are also said to have had the op and then extolled on TV shows how it has given them a ‘new life’.
Figures from the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons reveal South Korea has one of the highest per-capita rates of plastic surgery procedures in the world.
Pressure to be pretty: Cosmetic surgery is on the rise in South Korea and the beauty business is keen to capitalise on trends — with double-jaw surgery the latest must-have as another advert shows
A doctor with the Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons said the double-jaw procedure took off around four years ago when a Seoul dental clinic ran a major ad campaign promoting the cosmetic benefits.
As it became popular, plastic surgeons began offering the surgery, causing the price to fall and making it more affordable.
A recent study estimated the procedure had been performed 5,000 annually, but it did not differentiate between cosmetic and medically prescribed operations.
Some 52 percent of those who had taken the surgery suffered sensory problems such as facial numbness, the study said.
Shin Hyon-Ho, a medical malpractice lawyer in Seoul, said he had seen cases where the surgery had resulted in chronic jaw pain, a skewed mouth, misaligned teeth and an inability to chew or smile.
He said: ‘The number of plastic surgery-related cases is growing … with complications becoming more serious.’
This was illustrated last August when a 23-year-old killed herself after having double jaw surgery.
She left a suicide note explaining her desperation after the surgery had left her unable to chew food or stop crying due to nerve damage in a tear duct.
The doctor from the Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, who would not be identified, told international news service AFP: ‘If we are seeing more complications, that’s largely because the sheer number of people getting the surgery has increased rapidly in such a short period of time.
‘Yes, it was originally invented to correct a dental deformity, but you can’t blame someone for getting the surgery to look good, especially in a place like the South where beauty, especially for women, pretty much trumps it all.’
