HISTORY OF RHINOPLASTY
The History of Rhinoplasty
Nose surgery began with dignity, not beauty. The changes Dr. Kim Hyung-taek has watched over 24 years.
- 6th century BC — India
Surgery to restore dignity
In the India of that era, cutting off the nose was a punishment for crime. To be without a nose was a brand and a social death, and so there was demand for surgery that could rebuild one. Making a nose was not about giving a face back — it was about giving a person their dignity back.
Read the related original — Surgery to restore dignity - Up to the early 2000s
The age of height
How far a silicone implant could raise the bridge was the whole of the operation. If it looked high from the front it was considered a success, while the flow of the profile and the angle of the tip came second. Over time, problems began to surface one by one: implants showing through, tissue contracting.
Read the related original — The age of height - Mid-to-late 2000s
Discovering the tip
It became clear that raising the bridge alone does not produce a natural nose. Techniques using septal and ear cartilage to build the tip took hold, and with them the view that the impression a nose gives is decided at the tip, not the bridge.
Read the related original — Discovering the tip - The 2010s
The age of revision
The first generation of patients began coming back for revision. Contracted tissue, implants still in place, repeated incisions — difficult noses multiplied. From then on, “what to put in” mattered less than “what to preserve, and what to leave reversible.”
Read the related original — The age of revision - 2020s — today
Structure and autologous tissue
We look at the nose as a structure, not a shape. Breathing and appearance come from the same structure — and to still hold up twenty years later, it has to be your own tissue. That is why KOWON concentrates on autologous rib cartilage (RIBFIT™) and muscle correction.
Read the related original — Structure and autologous tissue
History of rhinoplasty: original articles
Read Dr. Kim Hyung-taek’s series on the history of rhinoplasty in its original Korean.
This article is shown in its Korean original. A translation is not available yet.
- 01코성형의 역사 ① — 코성형의 시작은 언제부터였을까
- 02코성형의 역사 ② — 2600년 전 인도, 코 재건술의 원형
- 03코성형의 역사 ③ — 코수술이 유럽으로 건너간 순간, 1794년
- 04코성형의 역사 ④ — 신의 뜻을 거스른 의사, 탈리아코치
- 05코성형의 역사 ⑤ — 안장코, 그리고 감추기 위해 시작된 코 보형물
- 06코성형의 역사 ⑨-2 — 넣는 것보다 어려운, 꺼내는 일
- 07코성형의 역사 ⑥ — 미용을 위한 첫 코수술, 1887년
- 08코성형의 역사 ⑦ — 자크 조셉, 그리고 코모양이 낙인이 된 시대
- 09코성형의 역사 ⑧ — 전쟁이 완성한 재건 성형, 해롤드 길리스
- 10코성형의 역사 ⑨ — 우리는 코에 무엇을 넣어왔나, 코성형 재료의 100년
- 11코성형의 역사 ⑨-2 — 넣는 것보다 어려운, 꺼내는 일
- 12코성형의 역사 ⑩ — 우리는 왜 자기 몸을 헐어 자기 몸을 고치는가
- 13코성형의 역사 ⑪ — 우리는 왜 코를 고치게 되었나
- 14코성형의 역사 ⑫ — 3600년이 지나도 변하지 않은 것
POINT OF VIEW
So this is how we see it
“I look at the J-curl before the bridge”
The J-curl is the line running from the tip through the columella, the nasolabial angle and the philtrum. Only when that curve survives naturally does an improved nose actually settle into the face. It is the part a front-facing photo will not show you.
“Revision starts with why it looks this way, not with what else to add”
It is a process of erasing as much of the previous surgery as possible and building again. I do it hoping this will be the last operation.
“The final goal of this surgery is self-esteem”
When I operate, I still often think back to that ancient history. In the end, what surgery has to give back is not a shape but that person's sense of self-worth.
Research
Research and academic activity Dr. Kim has taken part in.
He takes part regularly in plastic surgery societies and symposia in Korea and abroad, researching rhinoplasty technique. Published papers and academic material will be posted here as they become available.