DistantNews
Support us
🇰🇷 South Korea /Health & Science

“I Reclaimed the Hand I Lost 35 Years Ago”: Reconstructive Surgery Helps Patients Return to Daily Life

From Hankyoreh · () Korean

Translated from Korean and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources New plan
  • The Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons will hold the “Building Life Again” exhibition from the 7th to the 12th at the National Assembly Members’ Office Building.
  • The exhibition features 20 patients who recovered functions after injuries, congenital conditions, burns, or cancer, including a man who received a hand transplant 35 years after losing his arm.
  • The society says reconstructive surgery faces inadequate institutional support despite complex procedures requiring extensive time, staff, and medical resources.

A man who lost an arm in an accident during his school years received a hand transplant 35 years later after a brain-dead donor’s family chose organ donation. Surgeons connected the bones, muscles, tendons, tiny blood vessels, and nerves one by one. His story is among 20 patient records featured in a new exhibition about reconstructive surgery.

The Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons will hold “Building Life Again” at the National Assembly Members’ Office Building from the 7th to the 12th, together with the office of lawmaker Han Ji-a. The event marks the society’s 60th anniversary and aims to challenge the common association of plastic surgery with cosmetic procedures. It presents reconstructive medicine as the restoration of body tissue and function.

Plastic surgery is not simply medicine that changes appearance, but medicine that restores a patient’s life so they can return to daily life.

· Hong Jong-wonThe society’s public affairs director defines the purpose of reconstructive surgery.

The exhibition also features a woman who lived for decades while avoiding people’s gaze because of a congenital vascular malformation covering half her face. Surgeons removed the lesion while preserving the facial nerves that control expression, then transferred skin and fat from her thigh and connected the tissue to facial arteries and veins. After surgery, she regained her smile and faced others more openly.

Another patient nearly lost both feet after they were pulled into machinery at a factory. A nearby hospital initially said amputation was the only option, but a reconstructive team used tissue from his side and thigh to save both feet. After rehabilitation, he returned to work and driving. The exhibition will show techniques including supermicrosurgery, 3D simulation-based reconstruction, robotic microsurgery, and custom 3D-printed titanium structures. Society public affairs director Hong Jong-won said plastic surgery is not simply about changing appearance, but about helping patients return to ordinary life. He also warned that the field lacks sufficient policy support despite the long operations and large teams required, a situation that could affect the training of younger specialists.

We hope this exhibition will comfort patients and their families and greatly improve understanding of reconstructive surgery.

· Hong Jong-wonHis explanation of the exhibition’s intended value.
About this summary

Originally published by Hankyoreh in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog