Perspective

Facial Plastic Surgery is all about looking and feeling good about you and yourself. In the younger age group, if a subtle improvement can be made to the nose, the chin, or the eye so that the face looks more balanced and harmonious; and, if this change can help to bring about increased self confidence, then the procedure helped to boost your self-image, resulting in a positive change to your state of mind. Likewise in the older age group, if a rejuvenation procedure can be performed to look less tired or aged, or sometimes less angry or sad looking, then the procedure helped to boost your self-image and bring about a positive change to your state of mind.

Dr. Kang believes that an optimal balance and harmony can be achieved in patients of all ages, gender, and ethnic background. The key to success then is, Dr. Kang’s keen sense of what natural beauty is and how he is able to create these favorable changes with finesse and artistic sense, using an “alchemy” of surgical and non-surgical procedures, which is truly individualized for the patient.

Inspiration

Becoming and Being A Facial Plastic Surgeon

Once in a while a young college student or medical student approaches Dr. Kang, and ask what it takes to be a successful facial plastic surgeon, and he usually responds this way:“First you have to persevere through years of schooling and be academically strong to gain acceptance into a medical school. During medical school years, you get an idea whether you want to be technical with your hands and pursue a surgical field or not. Once you start residency training in surgery, you spend significant amount of time daily in the operating room, observing and learning how to operate. Along the way, if you happen to find out that you possess natural talents in the operating room, it is always a pleasant bonus. With or without the natural talents, if you can learn to be proficient with your hands, and have consistently good result, then you were meant to be a surgeon. However, the long and grueling five years of residency training only serves as a stepping stone to your final leg of training, which is the fellowship in Facial Plastic Surgery. A formal fellowship is of paramount importance to the surgeon pursuing the field of Facial Plastic Surgery because all the schooling and training thus far has been focused on diagnosing and treating disease process of the face and head and neck. The best analogy is the lens of your camera; if the disease process has been in the foreground, then the shape and beauty of human face have always been there, but rather fuzzy in the background. The fellowship trains the surgeon to re-focus so that the beauty and harmony of human face now appears in the foreground. However, how sharply the surgeon can focus is the “innate visual and artistic sense” of the surgeon to recognize what “natural” beauty is, and appreciate that harmony and balance of face comes in all different sizes, shapes, and proportions.”

Dr. Kang credits his “innate visual and artistic sense” to his over 30 years of on-going interests in photography and in the field of classic and vintage automobiles and designs. Ever since he has been able to drive, he has been a passionate student of automobile designs, especially the European designers and coach-builders, such as Pininfarina, Bertone, Guigaro, Scaglietti, Touring, to name a few. These designers have always understood that the ultimate success lies with the proportions and balance of each panel that are juxtaposed to one another to create an overall harmonious shape, pleasant to look at from every angle. They were able to apply this concept whether the car was destined to be exotic and curvaceous or proletarian and boxy. The very first car Dr. Kang acquired during his senior year in high school was a ’73 Alfa Romeo Coupe designed by Bertone. It was in rough condition when he acquired it, but the inherent design still shined right through, and with time, he was able to restore the car into an excellent condition. Ever since then, he has been enjoying and restoring many other vintage and classic automobiles which he affectionately calls “rolling work of art”. His interest in photography began following an introductory course in high school. As one of his first assignments using a borrowed Canon AE-1 SLR from his Dad, the black and white photo that he took of a child sitting on a swing in a playground, was good enough to be displayed in the school gallery for the reminder of the year. To this day, Dr. Kang personally takes all the “before and after” pictures of patients himself, because it helps him to better analyze the patient’s facial features and proportions.

“Those of us specializing in facial cosmetic practice, whether surgical or non-surgical, feel that we are more than proficient to do the job since we are “experts” in knowing what beauty, balance, and harmony is. However, only with time and results to show, can we realize that we hold both the visual sense and the artistic and technical abilities to consistently create these cosmetic improvements on our patients. Only then can we convince ourselves of being truly good at what we do, and hopefully impart that level of comfort and confidence to our patients.”

“Who Is A Board Certified Facial Plastic Surgeon?”

All facial plastic surgeons are physicians who have undergone many years of education and training including college and medical school. After 20 years of education the physician applies for a “residency” in a particular subject. A “resident” is a licensed physician who is pursuing further post-graduate training after receiving a doctor’s degree from medical school.

Most facial plastic surgeons do their residency training in Otolaryngology-Head-and-Neck Surgery.

Such residents have succeeded in a very competitive and selective process. Most come from the upper 25% of their medical school class. Then residency begins with one to two years of general surgical training. The resident then begins specialty training in Otolaryngology-Head-and-Neck Surgery, which lasts 4 to 6 years.

In the Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery residency, the physician studies anatomy, physiology, illness and surgical treatment for head and neck.

After completing that residency, the surgeon then sits for the two-day certification examination in the specialty of Otolaryngology-Head-and-Neck Surgery. If the surgeon passed that examination, the surgeon becomes ‘board certified’ in Otolaryngology. The examination and residency studies focus on function as well as appearance. While it is nice to have a beautiful nose, the surgeon wants to maintain or even improve its normal functions of breathing and smelling. The surgeon also studies ear and throat surgery. The surgeon studies what is called “trauma” wounds from external sources. Parts of this world are violent, and there is an incredible volume of smashed, cut and battered faces. The resident spends hundreds of hours repairing and reconstructing these victims. This serves as an excellent training ground for the young facial plastic surgeon, for reconstructing the traumatized face deepens knowledge about bony and soft tissue anatomy, normal and abnormal appearance and all the requisite principals of facial reconstruction: the same skills that are important in Otolaryngology-Head-and-Neck Surgery.

This training in the primary surgical specialty of otolaryngology/head-and-neck surgery represents the typical five-year training after graduation from medical school. Some facial plastic surgeons also enter aspects of the field through similar training in other specialties, including ophthalmology, dermatology, and plastic surgery of the body.

Some surgeons with special interest in facial plastic and reconstructive surgery then compete for one of the coveted facial plastic and reconstructive surgery fellowships. This is a full-year program offering a unique opportunity to study with one of the AAFPRS’s master surgeons.

Many facial plastic surgeons go still further and sit for a second two-day board examination given by the American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery That certifying board requires not only successful completion of the examination, but also peer review of surgeries performed by the applicant. Only surgeons previously certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and/or the American Board of Otolaryngology may be certified by the American Board of Facial Plastic and Reoncstructive Surgery. Click here for Full Article

  Education and Timeline

1984    BA in Biology from Columbia College

1988    MD with Distinction in Research, Mount Sinai School of Medicine

1993    General Surgery Internship, Beth Israel Medical Center; Otolaryngology, Face, Head and Neck Surgery residency training at SUNY Buffalo

1994    Fellowship in Facial and Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Dyer Facial Plastic Center, Emory University

1995    Dr. Kang joins the New York Ear, Head and Neck Surgical Associates, NY, NY with emphasis on Oncologic Surgery and Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery of Face, Head and Neck.

1997    Dr. Kang dedicates practice to cosmetic and plastic surgery of the face and neck with emphasis on specific needs of Asian-Americans. Over the ensuing years, Dr. Kang builds a strong reputation as Surgeon who can create the “natural” lasting results. He also stays on the “cutting edge” of non-surgical enhancement by incorporating Botox, Juvederm, Radiesse, Sciton Laser, Thermage, Fraxel Laser, and Cynosure Smartlipo Triplex Laser.

2011    Dr. Kang opens state of art “Boutique” Clinic in the heart of NYC on Central Park South, providing a full complement of surgical and non-surgical cosmetic enhancements of the face and neck and SmartLipo Triplex laser assisted body contouring.