Update 02/28: The ‘Dr. Kim’ TikTok account has since been banned and removed. Another remains live, listing only the same contact information Kim did.
An elusive plastic surgeon’s postoperative facelift results have viewers in shock. Stunning in a sense, they’re also terrifying, viewers say.
“Uncanny Valley vibes” are mentioned often.
Digitally-altered, others add.
Dr. Kim’s videos claim to show the results of extreme facial plastic surgery.
Taken shortly after surgery and prior to full recovery, they show patients whose facial features have been dramatically altered, leaving them looking 10-25 years younger—or like a different person entirely.
“The 46-year-old sister turned into a little girl after facial lift,” reads the caption of a Dr. Kim video posted Sept. 8, 2023.
The woman’s eyes are larger, her skin smoother, her ears apparently pinned at the vertical center, causing the lobes to bulge outward.
She’s not alone.
In other videos, viewers say a woman featured is “shaking” or “twitching” after surgery, as they wonder what the doctor did and whether the patient can still close her eyes.
“I don’t understand how they’re making their eyes bigger w/ a facelift,” one viewer comments.
“It’s not the same person,” writes another.
Little Known About the Elusive Dr. Kim
On TikTok, “Dr. KIM” is the name used by an account, @jiezou16, with 130,000 followers and 2.5-million video likes.
That makes him one of the most widely-followed cosmetic surgeons on social media, despite posting his (or her) first video to TikTok just over seven months ago, on June 16, 2023.
But little is known about who Dr. Kim actually is, or whether he is a real surgeon or doctor.
Dr. Kim’s TikTok bio is blank—“No bio yet,” it says.
The sole means of contacting the surgeon is a WhatsApp number.
A website listed on WhatsApp, www.gjhos.com, isn’t live now and appears never to have been, according to the Internet Archive.
On TikTok, Dr. Kim’s profile picture is that of a young nondescript male doctor, who never appears on the account’s videos.
“This is his profile picture. It looks like they just searched the interwebs for ‘doctor picture,’ and found this on like Getty Images. And they’re like, ‘yep, that’s the one.’”
Content Creator, ThatsShantastic, TikTok.com
@thatsshantastic Replying to @ZIZI #greenscreen #greenscreenvideo #drkim #facelift @Dr. KIM ♬ original sound – Shannon
On WhatsApp, a man who is presumably Dr. Kim appears older.
Reverse-image searches online suggest the surgeon’s name is Kim Ji-hoon, and that he operates in South Korea.
But, reached on WhatsApp, an account manager directed the Times to Shanghai, China, if interested in surgery.
(In South Korea, a doctor by the same name, Dr. Kim Ji-hoon, didn’t respond to a request for comment sent off-hours early Monday morning.)
“Shanghai, China. Cash, Anytime.”
Reached on What’sApp, Dr. KIM’s team wasn’t rushing to answer, nor pressing a Times reporter into surgery.
Some answers were delayed by days.
On TikTok, curious commentators also aren’t replied to or prompted to “DM for pricing” as so often occurs.
In the most viral of Dr. Kim’s videos, which allegedly features a 51-year-old gentleman from Spain (who sports clothing with English lettering), comments have been disabled.
“Okay dr Kim, imma need you to turn yourself in now,” one comment read, liked by tens of thousands of viewers.
Fifty-thousand-dollars is enough for a facelift like the ones featured on his TikTok profile, Dr. Kim replied to the Times.
“Shanghai, China. Cash, anytime,” an account manager replied when asked where to fly to and who to pay.
“Any airport in Shanghai.”
As for travel tips or advice on getting $50,000 cash through customs, none were offered, no planning guide sent.
For a surgeon who shares his work with the world, it seemed odd more effort isn’t put into turning interested viewers into patients.
Surgeons Warn and Weigh In
Medical content creators in the U.S. have weighed in on the videos.
Board-certified plastic surgeon Richard J Brown, MD, on Sunday warned against the type and placement of incisions the cosmetic doctor uses.
In videos filmed 5-7 days after Dr. Kim’s facelifts, incisions and stitches are visible across the width of many patient’s foreheads.
“[T]hese pretrichial or front-of-hairline incisions can be extremely visible and not look great long term,” Dr. Brown said in a video on Sunday.
Anthony Youn, MD in August called the surgery extreme, and wondered whether the videos faithfully depicted surgery results.
“The plastic surgery coming out of Asia is so extreme that it actually makes me sad…. And this whole thing is strange, because are these truly the hands of a 69-year-old woman?… This is just strange. So what do you think is going on this video? Are there filters, is this not the same person? I’d love to hear your thoughts.”
Anthony Youn, MD, TikTok, August 8, 2023
Male Patient, 51, of TikTok’s ‘Dr Kim’
This patient of Dr. Kim’s is a 51-year-old male from Spain, according to the TikTok account. Images were taken prior to and seven days after surgery, according to the video’s caption.
Female Patient, 76, of TikTok’s ‘Dr Kim’
This patient of Dr. Kim’s is reportedly his or her 76-year-old aunt, according to the TikTok account. Images were taken prior to and three days after surgery, according to the video’s caption.
