When it comes to plastic surgery, you might have heard of Dr. Anthony Youn. He operates a thriving medical practice and gives medical commentary on The Rachel Ray Show, Dr. 90210 and CNN.
In his new memoir In Stitches, he tells a humorous but at times disturbing story of becoming a board-certified plastic surgeon. It's a journey filled with stress, insecurities, and encounters with physicians whose intentions are not completely altruistic.
A Father's Influence
Dr. Youn was partly steered down the medical path by his father, who grew up on a small farm in South Korea. Youn writes that the farm housed many kids and featured creaking floors, no plumbing and no privacy. He says his father came from nothing and worked extremely hard to become a successful OB-GYN. Youn's father equated "doctor" with "success," and drove to instill that conviction in his children.
Growing Up, Standing Out
Dr. Youn grew up in Greenville, Michigan, which had a population of 7945, and almost almost everyone was white. He says he felt and looked like an outsider. He describes himself as having a skinny frame, big glasses and a massive jaw — one that grew to double the size of Jay Leno's jaw.
After graduating high school, Youn had reconstructive surgery on his jaw, hoping it'd spark a personal transformation. During college — even with a new jaw and muscular body — he was never able to get a girlfriend.
The Doctor-God Complex
Youn admits, "We're doctors because we want to help people, but also because we want to help ourselves. I became a doctor because I wanted to help people, I wanted to make my parents proud of me, I wanted to get my dad off my back, and I thought this may be a chance for me to elevate my stance to actually find somebody who's interested in me."
As readers follow Youn into medical school, they come upon many dark chapters, where physicians and soon-to-be-physicians are self-absorbed and hungry for status and money. During Youn's clinical rotation in internal medicine, he was paired with an intern who was cruel to him and patients. She used demeaning acronyms to describe patients, such as G-O-M-E-R: Get Out of My Emergency Room. She described them as "the chronically ill who end up here and waste our time. They never leave and they never die."
Youn says the first reason for this behavior is the "doctor-god complex." He expresses that doctors can take to their heads the power to save or end lives. Secondly, Youn explains that doctors have grown bitter because they've suffered long work hours and hazing rituals.
Nonetheless, Youn notes that some current changes in the medical system may reduce chances of developing the doctor-god complex. For example, work hours are cut, and medical schools are now looking for well-roundedness in their medical school applicants rather than just high MCAT scores.
Choosing Plastic Surgery
Youn calls plastic surgery perfect for him because it lets him partake in art and medicine simultaneously. He notes that he has always been interested in art, particularly in comic books as a child.
Youn says one reason for writing his book is to show that not all plastic surgeons are "arrogant, money-grubbing jerks." He notes that some procedures truly improve people's lives, like when he worked on a teenage boy with breasts the size of DD or DDD.
In the end, Youn emphasizes the need to approach plastic surgery with responsibility.
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