Dr Anthony S. Youn answered people’s burning questions about plastic surgery drawing on his experience after reconstructing 5000 body parts – it wasn’t pretty…

In the world of plastic surgery things may seem pretty straight forward, but as Dr Anthony Youn knows that’s far from the truth.

The doctor has reconstructed 5000 body parts in his 16 years of researching the secrets of cosmetic surgery; from protruding ears to curve-less derrieres, warts to weird requests.

In an enlightening AMA on Reddit , the doctor, who also wrote In Stitches, revealed the wildest and weirdest things he’s heard and had to do.

People were shocked to hear leeches can save a dying nipple (yes you read that right) or how far people go to get work done.

Dr Youn has counselled people, caught things off patients and been put in very bizarre situations.

Asked what the weirdest thing he’s done or seen was, the doctor was all too happy to share the grim details leaving everyone wondering how nipples die.

“I’ve used leeches to save nipples that were about to die,” he said.

“I’ve counseled women who had industrial strength silicone injected into them in hotel rooms, I’ve seen maggot infested wounds, I almost got lice from a patient.

“I’ve seen genital warts the size of cauliflower heads, and have had patients hit on me, ask to set me up with their children (I’m married), threaten to hit me with their car, and ruin my career so that the only people who would let me operate on them are “the w*****!” Seriously.”

Apparently they actually work really well.

“Leeches act as a ‘vein’ to drain out the clogged up blood. All plastic surgeons have them in their ‘back pocket’ in case all hell breaks loose and the surgery goes down the tubes. Thankfully I’ve never had to use them in private practice,” Dr Youn said.

Not everyone was surprised.

One nurse, redheasidence, chipped in: “I’m a nurse and I’ve worked on a plastics ward before. We had a whole fridge dedicated to leeches and skin. Leeches work like a charm.”

When you thought you had heard it all, Dr Youn shares what sort of requests he gets.

“I’ve had a lot of people ask me for wings. Like, turn them into the X-Men character The Angel. And they believe it’s possible.

“The next craziest thing someone asked for was to look like Kim Kardashian.”

That is scarily not as crazy as you would think.

 

When asked what he’d say to parents considering getting cosmetic surgery for their child, he replied: “I would say that the parent should see a therapist and/or have someone slap him/her.”

He didn’t stop there though, giving an example: “I once had a parent call to make an appointment for her son. She was Korean and claimed her son wanted Asian eyelid surgery (to make an extra fold to look more Caucasian).

“He was only seven! I told her she had major problems and I would never do that to him!”