USC Viterbi School of Engineering – USC Viterbi School of ...



Name: Mengyi Tang

Email: mengyita@usc.edu

Cosmetic Plastic Surgery: Where Art, Science and Engineering Meet

Abstract: Nowadays, people live under the influence of the media promoting plastic surgery, which has affected their thoughts and aesthetics in terms of physical appearances. In order to develop their self-esteem and confidence, more and more people choose to do plastic surgery. According to the America Society of Plastic Surgeon, there are two types of cosmetic plastic surgery: one is the surgical procedure and the other one is non-surgical procedure.13 This article introduces the art, science and engineering of plastic surgery especially two types: one is the nose job and the other one is the double-jaw surgery. It also introduces two new kinds of surgical procedure: Rib Cartilage Rhinoplasty and V-line. Especially in Asia, those two are recently developed and become very popular in Asian countries like Korea, Japan and China. Those two new surgical procedures give readers more innovative perspectives on plastic surgery. From this article, readers can understand that plastic surgery is not just simply a surgery, but it is also the procedure of building aesthetics and reconstructing the face much like structural and civil engineering on the buildings.

Biography: Mengyi Tang is an international junior student, majoring in Industrial Engineering. She is interested in cosmetics and anything related to cosmetics.

Traditional Surgical Procedure of Asia Rhinoplasty:

“ Rhinoplasty is the art and science of restructuring the nose. It is the part structural engineering, part architecture and part sculpture,” said by Dr. Stuart Bentkover, a Princeton and Harvard educated board certified Plastic Surgeon1. As the development of technology and improvement of life quality, plastic surgery becomes more popular around all over the world, especially in Asia. According to a 2011 study performed by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, nearly 15 million cosmetic plastic surgeries were performed in 2011.2 Korea, China and Japan are the top three Asian countries performing the nose job. A couple of years ago, the silicon nose job was so popular in Asia that it was called “Asian Rhinoplasty” or “Asian Nose Job”. Based on the definition from Alpha-Health, “The silicon nasal implant will add the height to the nose bridge and increase the definition in the nasal tip area.”3 The most commonly used shapes of silicon are L-shape for both the nasal bridge and tip area, and I-shape for the nasal bridge area.

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Figure 1. Silicon Shapes and Before/After Photos3

As shown in Figure 1, it represents different shapes of silicon for nose job. There are L-shapes on the left bottom of picture and I-shape on the right (The figure is from the article What is an Asian Rhinoplasty and Asian Nose Job?). Depending on the different persons and different types of nose shapes, surgeons usually will choose the best-suited shapes of silicon to implant into the patient’s nose bridge and nasal tip area. The silicon implant is a traditional nose job procedure performed for reshaping noses including adding the height of nasal bridge and nose tip. However, there are some side effects of silicon implants since silicon is not part of humans’ bodies so that they might be rejected. As technology is improving, a new type of nose job was developed, which is called Rib Cartilage Rhinoplasty.

New Type of Nose Job: Rib Cartilage Rhinoplasty

Rib Cartilage Rhinoplasty is not that common right now and was just developed a couple of years ago. From the website of VIP, which is the specialized clinic of Rib Cartilage Rhinoplasty in Seoul, “rib cartilage can be most useful choice of material to perform the rhinoplasty in Asian nose such as short nose, damaged nose and infected nose.”4 Rib Cartilage is strong and safe to support the nasal structure. However, ear and septal cartilage are weak and maybe not enough for the short nose. In human body, we have 12 rib cartilages and most commonly, number 7 is used for Rhinoplasty.4 When the doctor performs the Rhinoplasty, he/she will get the number 7 rib cartilage and reshape/sculpture it to fit the size and shape of the patient’s nasal bridge and if the patient wants higher nose tip area, the doctor can also use the sculptured rib cartilage to add the height of nose tip area.5 Since the surgery includes harvesting the rib cartilage, contouring the cartilage and the also the procedure for rhinoplasty, the amount of time of this surgery is longer than the traditional nose job, using silicon implanted rhinoplasty. The Figure 2 below shows the outcome of rib cartilage rhinoplasty for Asians. From the comparison of before and after photos, the heights of nose bridge and tip areas in the right photo are apparently higher than the left photo (This Figure is from the website of VIP International Plastic Surgery Center in Korea).

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Figure 2. Rib Cartilage Rhinoplasty Before and After photos4

Not only can rib cartilage be reshaped for the short nose, it can also be replaced for the damaged or infected noses because of the rejection of silicon or donated cartilage. Therefore, the rib cartilage is the most advanced technology for rhinoplasty, and compared to other types of nose job, the surgical procedure is much more complicated so the amount of time is also longer.

New technology of double-jaw surgery: V-Line

In spite of the new type of nose job invented, there is also new type of double- jaw developed theses years. According to the article In South Korea, Plastic Surgery Comes Out of the Closet, written by Choe Sang-Hun, “Double-jaw surgery — which was originally developed to repair facial deformities, and involves cutting and rearranging the upper and lower jaws — has become a favorite procedure for South Korean women who are no longer satisfied with mere nose jobs or with paring down cheekbones to achieve a smoother facial line.”6 Recently, in South Korea, V-line, one type of the double-jaw surgery has become extremely popular among patients. From the website of ID clinic, which is the most famous V-line clinic in Seoul, Dr Park Sang-Hoon is the first surgeon in Korea to perform the surgery as cosmetic plastic surgery.7 In the past, it was difficult to reduce the chin because of damaging nerves, however, V-line surgery using the new technology called T-osteotomy to perform the double-jaw surgery.7 V-line surgery can be performed due to several reasons such as broad chin, flat chin, long face, or short face. The method of V-line surgery is “cutting off the angular part of the patient’s side face and correcting the wide chin at the same time.”7 Figure 3 is from the Grand Clinic in Seoul, and it shows the outcomes of the v-line surgery.

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Figure 3. Before and After Photos of V-line from Grand Clinic8

The wide chin can be reduced and the angular part can be cut off from the comparison of before and after photos (The Figure is from the website of Grand Plastic Surgery). From the website of Grand Clinic, the cutting area of the double jaw and chin depends on the specific shape of the patient’s chin and the procedure performed by the doctors.8

Plastic Surgeries in South Korea:

In South Korea, cosmetic plastic surgery is very popular no matter is surgical or non-surgical like injection. As reported in the Economist, there were over 360,000 total cosmetic plastic surgeries performed in 2010, and South Korea ranked as the top country with the most numbers of cosmetic plastic surgeries based on the population size.9 Also, despite the people in Korea had surgeries, there are more and more patients come from all over the world to have their surgeries performed in South Korea. In the figure below, the data was from a 2010 survey conducted by International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, which is also called ISAPS.10

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Figure 4. Plastic Surgery Statistics9

Moreover, in Korea, cosmetic plastic surgery becomes part of culture, for instance, Korean mothers even let their daughters to have plastic surgery as their birthday gifts to change their appearances. Parents may promise their daughters to have nose job done if they pass exams or have good grades. Moreover, patients can even borrow money from bank and pay for the cosmetic plastic surgery. From a 2009 survey conducted by Trend Monitor, in Seoul there are one of every five women aged from nineteen to forty-nine had cosmetic plastic surgery done.11 Recently, there are even some Korean reality TV Show recorded the procedures of cosmetic surgery and the comparison of patients’ before and after looks. In Korea, cosmetics plastic surgery is not just simply a surgery, it becomes part of culture, and more and more people prefer to undergo surgeries when they are not satisfied with their faces.

Conclusion:

The term “plastic surgery” was originated by Pierre Desault to describe procedures to repair facial deformities in 1976.12 In the past, fewer people would have plastic surgeries done because of the lack of technology of cosmetic plastic surgery. However, with the development of technology, and the promotion of media, more and more people desire to have better looks by having plastic surgeries done such as double eyelid surgery, rhinoplasty, breast augmentation and etc. In the recent years, people are more open-minded and the plastic surgery becomes very common all over the world. With the more advanced technology, more and more cosmetic plastic surgeries can be invented such as rib cartilage and V-line (mentioned above). The cosmetic plastic surgery will be safer and guaranteed for patients with the new invention of technology. In the future, cosmetic plastic surgery will become part of culture all over the world, and more people will choose to improve their confidence and pursue better looks by undergoing plastic surgery.

References

1. Stuart Bentkover, “Bentkover: Facial Plastic Surgery.” Accessed October 28, 2013.

2. “Top Plastic Surgery countries: International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons Release Report.” The Huffington Post. Accessed October 28, 2013.

3. “What is an Asian Rhinoplasty and Asian Nose Job?” Accessed October 29, 2013.

4. VIP International Plastic Surgery Center in Korea. Accessed October 29, 2013.

5. Vicent P. Martin, Alan Landecker, and Jack P. Gunter. “ Harvesting Rib Cartilage Grafts for Secondary Rhinoplasty.” Plast.Reconstr.Surg 121 (2008): 1442. Accessed October 30, 2013.

6. Choe Sung-Jun. “ In South Korea, Plastic Surgery Comes out of the Closet.” Published On November 3, 2011. Accessed November 1, 2013.

7. ID Hospital. Accessed November 1, 2013.

8. Grand Plastic Surgery. Accessed November 1, 2013.

9. Beth. “South Korea Tops Plastic Surgery Tables”. Published May 3, 2012. Accessed November 2, 2013.



10. International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons. Accessed November 2, 2013.

11. Mikaela Conley. “Nip/Tuck Nations: 7 Countries With Most Cosmetic Surgery.” ABC News. April 25, 2012.

12. Grobman P. Vital statistics. New York, NY: Plume Books; 2005.

13. America Society of Plastic Surgeon. Accessed October 28, 2013.

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