Male Plastic Surgery in Korea, Judged Years Later

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Requests from men vary widely, and nothing about being male dictates a particular look. A common starting point is the lower face: the chin, the line from chin to neck, or loose skin along the jaw. These concerns sit close together, so one complaint such as a soft profile can have more than one cause.

A short chin, fullness under the chin and heavy jowls can all blur the same outline. A careful surgeon separates them with side-view photos and an exam before naming any operation, and the answer decides between a chin operation, a lift, a smaller step or no surgery.

A chin can be brought forward with a silicone or porous implant placed over the bone, or by a sliding genioplasty, where the surgeon cuts the lower front of the jaw, moves that segment and fixes it with a small plate. The implant route is shorter. The bone route can also change chin height or reduce a long chin, which an implant cannot do.

In a 2007 report in Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, Hoenig reviewed ten years of sliding genioplasty. Among 37 patients who had the chin operation alone, 8 were men, and the mean forward movement was 4.5 mm. Early numbness of the lower lip and chin mostly passed within weeks, and in Hoenig's series 93.1% reported normal feeling at least a year later. The figures come from one surgeon's practice.

When the concern is loose skin along the jaw and neck, the usual operation is a lower face and neck lift, and the useful evidence is what patients report years later, not after one month.

Friel and colleagues, writing in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in 2010, surveyed people who had a deep-layer face and neck lift by one surgeon. In that study of 89 respondents, 97.8% rated their improvement very good or beyond expectations at one year. At an average of 12.6 years, the study found 68.5% still rated it that way, while 31% were disappointed in some aspect. The group was not limited to men, and recall bias is possible. A lift slows the visible effect of aging; the face keeps aging afterward.

For anyone weighing plastic surgery in Korea for men, or plastic surgery for men in Korea booked around a short trip, the consultation is where the long view gets settled. Listen for specific answers rather than general reassurance.

• Is my concern mainly bone, fat or skin, and how did you decide?
• What size of change are you planning, in millimeters where that applies?
• Which nerve or numbness risk applies to this operation, and for how long?
• What would a smaller step, or no surgery, achieve instead?
• How should I judge the result at one month, six months and one year?

Bleeding under the skin is a known risk after face and neck lifts, and blood pressure control lowers it. Chin bone work can leave lasting numbness, asymmetry or a plate that needs removal. Implants can move, become infected or show an edge under thin skin. Every operation also carries anesthesia risk and a chance the result will not match what was hoped for. Smokers heal more slowly and should stop well before surgery.

Men plastic surgery in Korea follows the same medical basis as for any patient, and a responsible plan states these risks in writing. Results vary from person to person.