NO Cosmetic Surgery Face, Nose and Bust Lift

The non-invasive Oriental medicine approach utilizes acupuncture and chiropractic methods AT THE KAYA KOREAN RESTAURANT, A lecture-demonstration by Dr. Kim Jae Woo from Korea on natural facelift gathered nearly a full room 30 minutes before the start.

Host was Kathy Park, owner of the Kaya Restaurant in Bel-Air (tel. 8950862), and she set the mood by telling the audience she had just had herself treated in November, had previously spent hundreds of thousands on Botox until she discovered the noninvasive type of treatment from Dr. Kim. She showed off her impeccable face that, to those who had known her, was many years younger. Forever young, she quipped.

Dr. Kim is the director of public health and president of the International Oriental Medicine Cosmetic Surgery Society. He’s also CEO and director of Complete Body Oriental Medicine Clinic.

With the aid of an interpreter, Dr. Kim talked about his practice in nonsurgical face-lifting that makes use of acupuncture (the insertion of fine needles to stimulate the flow of vital energy at certain points of the body) in combination with chiropractic methods (the manipulation of the spine, joints and soft tissues) familiar to many who have witnessed sports-related ailments.

Both acupuncture and chiropractic techniques, expectedly, are still considered alternative medicine by practitioners of mainstream medicine and science. But Kim points out that acupuncture operates along that of the principle of tissue regeneration, like laser-light surgery.

The field of cosmetic beautification and enhancement worldwide has grown by leaps and bounds since a mere 30 years ago when patients went under the knife for facelifts, bust augmentation, nose lifts, chin reduction, hair loss, removal of wrinkles, eye treatments, buttock lifts, obesity, vagina plastic surgery. All these are today possible using his noninvasive nonsurgical method, Dr. Kim says.

Most of us in the audience were women (plus a sprinkling of men, including actor Ricky Davao, who wanted treatment of shoulder pains). Many belonged to the medical field while some in the audience had had unhappy experiences with traditional cosmetic surgery. Society figures such as Becky Garcia, Tina Ferreros, Geena Zablan, Cory Quirino and Maurice Arcache were present.

Tina Ferreros had agreed to be the subject of the demonstration. She had been given anesthesia an hour before as she was so nervous about the procedure. “I don’t know why I agreed,” she told the audience.

In action

Kim pointed out the areas of her face that needed treatment—her uneven chin alignment, laugh lines that were deeper on one side, wrinkles, a general imbalance of the joints of her upper body.

He started working on the jaw, inserted acupuncture needles with stems inside her mouth and told her to bite on the stems. He later worked on the side of her face that was sagging and had defined laugh lines: With a single fine needle, he started massaging and manipulating her chin. Then it was all over and he asked the audience for comments.

Tina’s chin did appear more aligned. The procedure on wrinkles and laugh lines would be more obvious after the swelling had subsided. In a month’s time, Kim says, regeneration of tissues would show the difference in her face.

This idea of making the body heal itself is endemic to Chinese and Asian practices. In the Orient there has been traditional resistance to tampering with what God has given. That is why many still prefer going to a “hilot” for body pains, drinking organic herbal juices for various ailments, taking a beauty bath in carabao milk, treating minor itchiness and allergies with guava leaves. Medical tourism records show that the West has likewise been invaded by this thinking.

Foreign visitors to Singapore for cosmetic medical tourism in 2007 was around 350,000, which has more than tripled today. Thailand had around 750,000 in 2008, which now should be around 1.5 million.

In contrast, South Korea had only 50,000 in 2009 even while the cost of similar treatment is 30 percent less than that in the US, and 60 percent less than that in Japan. The main problem, according to research, is that of language, a matter that Dr. Kim and Katy as his agent here are determined to solve.

While not directly confronting traditional medicine, Kim says the popular Botox is at best a temporary solution and cautions that it will weaken muscles which may cause deformity. He says one may look beautiful after going under the knife in one’s youth with bad effects appearing upon reaching one’s 50s.

We are suddenly reminded of the case of one show-biz wife whose problem now has been inadvertently divulged by her mom. Kim is not saying no to surgical procedures en toto, but just advising one should be careful.

The main theory behind Kim’s Oriental medicine practice is not to use anything synthetic inside the body. The final shape of our body is formed by membrane, fats, tendons, muscles, blood vessels, skin and our bone structure, which determine the final form of our body. Dr. Kim shows how we can reshape each of our body parts through various acupuncture techniques, a procedure similar to chiropractic procedures involving enhancement of the muscles and the skin. These will result in delaying aging while becoming healthier at the same time.

In a demonstration of how the body points can rule one’s final appearance, he shows how the muscle beside the spinal cord can affect the appearance of one’s nose. “After stimulating the muscle two to three times a day for a couple of months, you will notice a marked difference in your nose’s appearance. ”

 AcuLift -How it works? “The needles create micro-wounds that boost collagen production and blood flow,”  and  have seen best results in women 35 to 55. They recommend a series of 10 sessions, cost vary but on average are $125 per treatment or 10 for $1,000.