thinner legs, restored virginity, what will they think of next?

[mel-o-d]

February 21, 2001

Some Korean Women Are Taking Great Strides to Show a Little Leg

By MICHAEL SCHUMAN

Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

SEOUL, South Korea -- N.R. Kim's classmates called her "radish legs." Forced to wear a knee-length plaid skirt as part of her high-school uniform, she was so embarrassed by her chunky calves that she ran home every day to dodge the taunts. Her parents needled her, too -- saying she looked like a "soccer player."

So last year, Ms. Kim, who requested the use of only her family name and initials to protect her identity, went under the knife. A plastic surgeon sliced away part of her calf muscle to slim down her legs. After the bloody procedure, her legs hurt so much, she says, "I never thought I'd walk again." A full month passed before she could walk normally, and she still felt a little pain nine months later. But she's far from disappointed with the results: No one calls her radish legs anymore.

The Supermodel Within

As the winds of globalization sweep through this prosperous Asian nation, Korean women have increasingly lifted their noses, shaved their jaws and widened their eyes in a relentless drive to attain the Western image of beauty. More recently, young women have begun targeting their thick calves, a common attribute that many Koreans find masculine and ugly, in the hope of attaining the willowy legs sported by the world's supermodels.

But leg jobs are kicking up controversy even in cosmetic-surgery-crazed South Korea -- the only country, local doctors say, where these extreme operations are regularly performed. Chung Chin Youb, of the department of orthopedic surgery at Seoul National University's College of Medicine, frets that the operations may weaken the leg and limit patients' ability to get around over the long term. "It could be difficult to walk uphill," Dr. Chung warns.

Patients like Ms. Kim say the benefits far outweigh the risks. Ms. Kim, now a 20-year-old college student, has started wearing shorts and credits the surgery with landing her a boyfriend. Her only worry is that someone might notice the slight scars left by the surgery on the back of her legs. "It's better to go through this and look good than to be emotionally scarred," she says.

Like a Virgin

The leg-job movement isn't the only way Korean women go to surgical extremes in order to prevent embarrassment. Another operation available here purports to restore a woman's virginity: Surgeons repair a torn hymen to erase any signs of past sexual activity. In recent years, say gynecologists, Korea's shifting sexual attitudes have created a small but steady market for the procedure, which costs around $800. The operation has particular appeal among some brides-to-be. "Although they enjoy premarital sex, when Korean men get married, they want a wife who is a virgin," says Hong Soon Ki, a doctor at Inae Obstetrics & Gynecology Clinic in Seoul, who performs the procedure.

This mix of traditional mores and modern medicine is also behind the urge for women to slim their calves. And with Koreans on average making more money than most other people in Asia, more young women here can afford the procedures.

Kim Ing Gon, Ms. Kim's doctor, has been one of the practice's chief architects. A stern, paternal 52-year-old who is chairman of the department of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Seoul's Han-Yang University Hospital, Dr. Kim says he was spurred to devise a remedy for big calves after patients pleaded for his help. The usual method used in the West -- liposuction -- doesn't work for many Koreans, because their calves are thickened by muscle, not fat. Dr. Kim became sympathetic to his patients' plight after gazing at one slinky leg after another in ancient Korean paintings and, during a trip to the Louvre in Paris, old statues of trim female warriors. "It got me thinking more how important legs are to a woman," he says.

In Dr. Kim's procedure, which costs $2,800 or more, two small incisions are made at the top of the calf in the back of the leg. He inserts an endoscope, separates the muscle from a membrane, and then cuts away some of the protruding muscle. Dr. Kim performed his first operation in 1994, and says he has carved over 100 patients since.

Moon Jung Sun, a 22-year-old fashion model, is one of Dr. Kim's many happy patients. Ms. Moon was so uncomfortable with her legs that she refused to wear short skirts on the job. Her stress increased when she compared her own legs with those of other popular Korean models, who are often bone thin.

Back in the dressing rooms at fashion shows, her sensitive manager made sure that anything too short stayed at the back of the rack. Still, she was lumped into the radish-leg camp. Even her mother complained that she "had her father's legs."

Two years ago, Ms. Moon saw an article about Dr. Kim and his special surgery in a Korean fashion magazine and paid him a visit. She worried that the surgery would interfere with her work, which requires a lot of standing and walking. Her mother worried that something would go awry. But Dr. Kim assured them that she would suffer no side effects, and she finally decided to cut into those embarrassing calves. Now Ms. Moon says she confidently wears short skirts while strutting down runways. "I'm glad I did it," she says. "Seeing how confident I am at work, my mother said she's glad I did it, too."

Across town from Dr. Kim, Suh In Seock, chairman of the department of plastic and reconstructive surgery at the Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital, boasts of creating a competing operation, which costs about $2,400. The 47-year-old surgeon claims that in 1993 he was the first to sever a nerve leading to a muscle in the calf, causing the muscle to shrink. Dr. Suh, like Dr. Kim, was struggling to find ways to help his distraught patients, and, realizing that muscles shrivel when not used, decided nerve-cutting could achieve the desired effect. Dr. Suh's procedure has a shorter recovery period -- patients walk home the day of the surgery. He says he has operated on about 200 people over the past five years.

Both doctors insist their procedures are safe. Dr. Kim says that he has conducted studies of his patients and determined that the strength of the leg isn't damaged by the operation. The leg usually returns to normal after six months, he says, although he might not recommend the surgery for ballerinas or mountain climbers. He points out that when calf muscles have been damaged in an accident or used in reconstructive surgery on other parts of the body, the patient's leg still functions normally. Dr. Suh says he "guarantees my patients that there will be no functional problems." He admits that some doctors gripe that he shouldn't be performing his nerve-cutting operation, but shoots back: "I have the facts that there have been no complications ... That's their opinion."

Richard Mladick of the Mladick Center for Cosmetic Plastic Surgery in Virginia Beach, Va., says that Dr. Kim Ing Gon and his team have "a very good, safe track record" on his muscle-cutting operation and that "functionally, people would get along fine." Dr. Mladick wrote a brief discussion of the procedure that was printed in the September 2000 edition of a journal called Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. His article appeared immediately after a piece on the surgery by Dr. Kim and three other Korean doctors in the same edition.

He calls the surgery "difficult," with potential for significant bleeding. And the final look of the leg isn't perfect either. "They are changing the leg into a thinner but rather shapeless leg," he says. Dr. Mladick hasn't performed the surgery, and he doesn't know of the procedure ever having been performed in the U.S. He says he can imagine one day recommending the muscle-cutting surgery after it is developed further, but "not in the near future." The nerve-cutting alternative, he adds, is "a very nice way" to shrink the calf, although he also believes that procedure requires great skill.

Kim Yong Oock, a plastic surgeon at Yonsei University's College of Medicine in Seoul, has conducted a few nerve-cutting operations and argues that the results are sometimes poor and that the muscle can even enlarge again. "I don't like this operation," he says. If done incorrectly, "it can be disastrous." Dr. Kim's muscle-cutting procedure, he adds, creates too much bleeding and produces suspect results.

Dr. Suh, the inventor of the nerve-cutting operation, acknowledges that inexperienced plastic surgeons occasionally make the mistake of cutting more than one of the three nerves leading to the calf, causing the patient to drag her leg. Immediate surgery is needed to repair a nerve. Dr. Suh says he has fixed about 10 such operations botched by other doctors, and all the patients recovered.

None of the risks dissuaded H.S. Kim, an office worker in her early 30s, who once strode through life on chunky calves. "Skirts were unthinkable," she says. "I used to hate summer."

In 1998, after watching Dr. Kim Ing Gon talk up his operation on a television program, she visited him at his hospital. She immediately trusted him and decided to have her calf muscles trimmed. Ms. Kim, who also asked that she be identified only by her initials and family name, hid her plan from friends and family, fearing they would try to dissuade her, and checked herself into a Seoul hospital alone. She called only her husband from her hospital bed after the operation. Ms. Kim stayed at home and out of sight for about two months, and, to this day, her husband remains the only person in the know. When others, even her mom, have commented on her new legs, she just says that she lost a lot of weight.

"I have no regrets," Ms. Kim says. "It's much better than 'radish legs.' "

[Twilo Beauty]

Korea would be awesome to visit, but you gotta admit those ppl are fucked up. Look at the shit they're doing!

Anyone who eats dog is fucked up.

-iliana

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http://dying.free.fr/courtmovie107new.jpg

[djmikedr]

whats next?

Deeper throat surgery???

[resident]

That if f******g crazy! I know a girl (in fact, I totally fell in e-induced love with her briefly) that's from South Korea, and she is, hands down, absolutely stunningly beautiful (too bad she has a boyfriend). The only Western thing about her is that she is tall, but the rest of her features are unchanged and I hope she keeps them that way.

[blueangel]

It's true Korea has turned way too superficial. It's really sad.

BlueAngel

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“Once in a while, in the middle of this thing called life, love throws us a fairy tale.” - Unkown

[Guest jesuki1]

some scary shit. but sadly, i can't say i'm surprised.

[rachel1997]

*wow*

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"I OWN DJ Mike D'R. NOW"