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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.”
- 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.
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.