One can think of very few communities to which the East Asian diaspora has not migrated over the course of the last few centuries. Thus, even northern European surgeons such as myself are regularly faced with aesthetic challenges pertaining to ethnic diversity.
The issues and challenges of course do not merely pertain to mono-ethnic faces but to mixed ethnicity and mixed culturality. One thinks of the rapid spread of cultural aesthetic desires across the planet in seconds via social media and the internet. How then does the mid-50s surgeon educated in a relatively mono- racial ethnic population cope with an influx of faces and facial ideas?
Bring on our Korean hero of the hour Dr Jin with his book Aesthetic Plastic Surgery of the East Asian Face. The book presents cutting-edge techniques for performing plastic surgery on East Asian patients. Dr Jin has compiled an excellent, clinically insightful reference covering the many techniques used in plastic surgery of the East Asian face. The areas of obvious racial diversity are of course covered, rhinoplasty, Asian eyelid surgery for example. But it also gives insights into areas such as facial contouring, and ageing face surgery where differences are more subtle. It also covers rapidly changing non-surgical treatments such as botulinum toxin, fillers, and lasers. That said the authors only include techniques which they regard as proven, safe and clinically effective. Be reassured that the whacky, left field flights of fancy are carefully omitted. Of course there are more than 850 full-colour intraoperative photos and high-quality illustrations demonstrating techniques.
So before you meet your next East Asian patient and grimace uncomfortably regarding your lack of experience in the arena read this essential book. It is filled with the insights, wisdom, and experience of leading experts in East Asian facial plastic surgery. You will keep it on your desk and use it as a refresher, a guide and an atlas. It will certainly improve the confidence with which one can converse with such individuals and, hopefully, it will improve the outcome that one delivers.
