Comprehensive Breast Surgery Options

Breast Plastic Surgery in Busan, Korea

Medically reviewed by Dr. Kim Ki-tae, MD — Board-Certified Specialist in Plastic Surgery, Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons; Director and founder, TAE Plastic Surgery Clinic TAE Plastic Surgery Clinic, Haeundae-gu, Busan

Breast plastic surgery in Busan covers the operations that change breast size, breast shape, breast position, or all three at once. At TAE Plastic Surgery Clinic in Haeundae-gu the specialty is a five-procedure program rather than a single operation, and the consultation exists to work out which of the five your anatomy actually calls for. The distinction that drives that decision is simple to state and easy to get wrong: whether your concern is volume, position, or both.

What Is Breast Plastic Surgery?

Breast plastic surgery refers to surgical procedures that change the size, shape, position, or overall appearance of the breasts.

• Depending on the patient's goals, the specialty includes breast augmentation, breast reduction, breast lift (mastopexy), breast implant surgery, or combinations of these.

• Surgery may involve creating an incision, placing an implant or reshaping and removing existing breast tissue, correcting breast position or the nipple-areola complex when necessary, and closing the incision.

• The exact technique is individualized, and the incision pattern, implant placement where applicable, and tissue-reshaping method are all decided case by case.

• Four of the specialty's five entries are operations that change breast volume, position or size structurally, which no non-surgical treatment achieves.

• The clinic states that its breast program covers augmentation, lift, reduction, revision and Trinity breast surgery, and that for breast lift the method is chosen according to the degree of sagging and the breast size.

People come to this specialty for reasons that fall into a small number of groups: breast asymmetry, changes after pregnancy or weight loss, loss of volume, sagging, disproportionately large breasts, or a wish for a different breast shape or size. Those are different problems with different surgical answers, which is why the specialty page cannot recommend a procedure and the consultation can.

The clinic's stated approach is to assess skin condition and the underlying tissue structure together, because the two determine what any single treatment can realistically achieve. In breast surgery that principle has an obvious consequence — skin elasticity and existing breast volume are assessed as two separate variables, not one.

TAE Plastic Surgery Clinic describes itself as a complex aesthetic surgery space, in which surgery is connected to non-surgical treatment and to advanced lasers, and stem cell and anti-ageing care are practised alongside them rather than kept apart. Breast surgery sits firmly on the surgical side of that arrangement. Non-surgical options generally cannot produce the same degree of structural change as surgery, and the clinic says so rather than offering a device treatment as a substitute.

Who Performs Breast Plastic Surgery at TAE Plastic Surgery Clinic

**Dr. Kim Ki-tae
**Board-Certified Plastic Surgeon

Every breast operation at this clinic is performed by Dr. Kim Ki-tae, who founded it and remains its only doctor. Breast surgery is listed among his core areas of practice, alongside liposuction and body contouring, fat grafting, lifting procedures, and laser and energy-based aesthetic treatments.

Dr. Kim Ki-tae holds the Board-Certified Specialist designation in Plastic Surgery issued by the Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons. He graduated from Inje University College of Medicine and trained as a Clinical Fellow in the Department of Plastic Surgery at Pusan National University from March 2003 to February 2004. He founded TAE Plastic Surgery Clinic in 2005 and has practised there ever since.

He chairs the Academic Committee of the Laser Plastic Surgery Research Group at the Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, sits on that society's Academic Committee, serves on the Legislation Committee of the Korean Association of Plastic Surgeons, and is General Affairs Director of the Busan Medical Association. He is a full member of the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery, an international member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, and a full member of the International Confederation for Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery.

TAE Plastic Surgery Clinic is a single-doctor clinic, so the surgeon who assesses you is the surgeon who treats you. For a specialty in which the operation is chosen at the consultation, that is not a small structural detail — the person who measures you is the person who then has to deliver what was promised. His published position on that stage of care is short: "In aesthetic medicine, the process of diagnosis is very important."

You can read his full profile on the doctor page.

Breast Plastic Surgery Options and Types Available

The clinic lists five procedures in this specialty. They are separated by what they change, not by how invasive they are.

Procedure	What it changes	Chosen when
Breast Augmentation	Adds volume, usually with an implant	Volume is the concern and breast position is acceptable
Breast Lift / Sagging Breast Correction	Raises and reshapes; removes excess skin	Position is the concern; volume may be adequate, small or large
Breast Reduction	Removes excess breast tissue and skin, and corrects sagging at the same time	Breast volume is excessive and causing physical or functional problems
Revision Breast Surgery	Corrects the result or complications of a previous augmentation	There is an existing implant, or a previous operation that did not settle well
Trinity Breast Surgery	Combines augmentation with additional techniques chosen per patient	Implant simulation alone does not produce the breast line the patient wants

Read that table as a set of decision boundaries rather than a catalogue. Each row names the one thing that procedure is designed to change, and each service page states its own boundary in more detail — where it stops, and which sibling procedure takes over from there. A patient whose breasts are large, heavy and sagging is not choosing between three of these; the clinic's own criteria route her to one. A patient with an implant already in place is in a different category again, because the operation has to work around an existing device and around whatever the previous surgery left behind.

Two of these overlap in practice, and the clinic separates them explicitly. A breast lift can be performed alone, combined with augmentation, or combined with reduction, depending on whether the sagging breast also needs volume added or volume removed. Breast reduction, by contrast, already includes correction of sagging as part of the operation. The comparison that matters most to a first-time patient is the simplest one: augmentation adds volume with an implant, while a lift repositions existing tissue without adding volume.

Who Is a Good Candidate for Breast Plastic Surgery?

You may be a candidate if

• You are a healthy adult with realistic expectations, physically and emotionally prepared for surgery.

• You want to increase breast volume, or improve breast shape or symmetry.

• You want to correct sagging, or reduce excessive breast size.

• You want to revise a previous breast operation.

• Your breast anatomy, skin elasticity, existing breast volume, medical history and goals point to a procedure that surgery can actually deliver.

You may need to avoid or postpone surgery if

• You are pregnant or breastfeeding.

• You have uncontrolled medical conditions that could increase surgical or anesthesia risks.

• You have an active infection or significant inflammation in the treatment area.

• You have conditions that may interfere with healing.

• Your expectations of the result are not realistic, in which case further counseling may be needed before surgery.

Suitability depends on the specific breast procedure, your overall health, your breast condition, your medications and your goals. The final decision is made by the doctor after an individual medical assessment. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons publishes patient-facing background on the procedures in this category that is worth reading alongside this page (ASPS).

What to Expect: Procedure, Recovery, and Results Timeline

The consultation comes first, and it is longer than patients expect. It covers your concerns and the outcome you want, your medical and surgical history, a breast examination, and an assessment of breast size, shape, skin quality and degree of sagging. The surgical approach is selected out of that assessment rather than agreed in advance.

Preparation is largely disclosure and instruction-following. Tell the clinic about your medications and medical conditions. Complete any examinations that are requested. Avoid smoking where you are advised to. Arrange transport and post-operative support if your case needs it. You may also be told to avoid excessive alcohol, and to stop certain supplements that can increase bleeding risk — but no medication is stopped or changed except on the treating team's instruction.

The operation itself typically takes one to three hours, depending on complexity. It is usually performed under local anaesthesia with sedation, or under general anaesthesia where the surgery is more extensive; the exact approach is confirmed with you at consultation.

Recovery follows a recognizable pattern, with the caveat that recovery after reduction, lift or revision differs from recovery after augmentation.

Stage	What to expect
First few days	Swelling, bruising, tightness and discomfort are most noticeable
First week	Light daily activities are usually resumed gradually
One to two weeks	Swelling and bruising settle; an in-person follow-up is normally scheduled before departure
Following weeks	Heavy lifting, strenuous exercise and significant upper-body activity remain restricted until the surgeon clears them
Weeks to months	The breast tissues settle and the final appearance develops progressively

Results are visible soon after surgery, but swelling temporarily affects the shape. After augmentation, implants may initially sit higher or feel firm before settling. After a lift or a reduction, the breast tissues also gradually move into their new position. Longevity varies with the procedure, with aging, pregnancy, weight change, tissue characteristics, and implant-related factors where implants are involved.

Aftercare is specific: follow the wound-care instructions, attend the scheduled follow-ups, use support garments when you are told to, avoid strenuous activity until you are cleared, and report unusual swelling, bleeding, fever or severe pain rather than waiting for the next appointment.

For patients travelling from the United States, the practical constraint is time rather than distance. Plan roughly one to two weeks in Korea, so that initial healing and a follow-up check both happen before you fly. The surgeon confirms when flying is safe, and that depends on the procedure, healing progress, swelling, wound condition and general health. Do not book a return flight tight against the operating date. Typical practice is one in-person follow-up before you leave Korea, with further check-ins handled remotely. Follow-up across a 13 to 17 hour time difference has to be planned, not improvised.

The clinic has not published a price or a price range for this procedure, so none is stated here, and cost is confirmed at consultation.

Combining Breast Plastic Surgery with Other Treatments

Breast procedures are combined when it is clinically appropriate, and the combination is decided from your anatomy, goals and overall health rather than offered as a package.

• Breast Augmentation with a lift, where both volume loss and sagging need addressing.

• Breast Reduction with correction of sagging, which the clinic performs as one operation.

• Breast Lift / Sagging Breast Correction combined with either augmentation or reduction, depending on whether the sagging breast is small or large.

• Trinity Breast Surgery, where implant-based augmentation is combined with additional techniques selected for the individual patient.

• Fat Grafting & Anti-Aging, which the clinic lists separately and which uses the patient's own tissue rather than an implant.

Safety, Precision, and Clinic Standards

The clinic has operated at the same address in Haeundae, Busan since 2005. TAE Plastic Surgery Clinic is a Registered Medical Institution for Attracting Foreign Patients, certified by the Ministry of Health and Welfare under the Medical Overseas Expansion and Foreign Patients Attraction Act. TAE Plastic Surgery Clinic publishes neither case volumes nor complication rates for this procedure, and this page claims neither.

The clinic reports approximately 240 surgical procedures and approximately 3,600 non-surgical treatments a year; these are clinic-wide totals across everything it offers, not figures for this procedure. Breast augmentation is listed by the clinic among its top procedures for the US market.

The risks that belong to this specialty should be read before the benefits. Possible risks include swelling, bruising, temporary discomfort and scarring. Asymmetry and changes in nipple or breast sensation are also possible. Infection, bleeding and wound-healing problems can occur. Revision surgery is a possibility rather than a remote one. Implant-based procedures carry additional implant-related risks on top of all of the above.

What the clinic will not promise is stated plainly: a specific cup size, an exact breast shape, perfect symmetry, completely scar-free healing, a permanent breast appearance, or a particular aesthetic outcome. For implant surgery, the clinic also states that implant-related outcomes cannot be assured to remain unchanged indefinitely.

Patients considering implants should read the US Food and Drug Administration's public information on breast implants, which is independent of any clinic and covers device risks and long-term considerations (FDA). Both bodies are independent of the clinic, and neither one endorses it.

The Bottom Line

• Breast plastic surgery at TAE Plastic Surgery Clinic is five separate operations, chosen at consultation rather than requested from a menu.

• The first question is whether your concern is volume, position, or both — that answer routes you to augmentation, to a lift, or to reduction.

• Dr. Kim Ki-tae is the clinic's founder and sole doctor, and holds the Korean board certification in plastic surgery.

• The operation typically takes one to three hours, and international patients should plan roughly one to two weeks in Korea.

• Recovery after reduction, lift or revision is not the same as recovery after augmentation.

• No cup size, shape, symmetry, scar appearance or permanence is promised, and the clinic states that limit itself.

FAQ

How do I know which breast procedure I need?

It depends on whether your concern is volume, position, or both. Augmentation adds volume, a lift repositions existing tissue, and reduction removes excess tissue while correcting sagging at the same time. The choice is made after a breast examination that assesses size, shape, skin quality and degree of sagging.

How long does breast surgery take?
The operation itself typically runs one to three hours, depending on how complex the plan is. Exact timing depends on the specific procedure agreed at consultation. A combined operation takes longer than a single one.

What anesthesia is used?
Breast procedures here are typically performed under local anaesthesia with sedation, or under general anaesthesia where the surgery is more extensive. Which one applies to you is confirmed at consultation. It depends on the extent of the planned operation rather than on preference alone.

How many days should I stay in Korea?
Plan for roughly one to two weeks. That window allows initial healing and a follow-up check before you fly. The clinic's exact recommendation depends on your individual case, and the surgeon confirms when flying is appropriate.

What does recovery actually look like?
Swelling, bruising, tightness and discomfort are common in the first week. Light daily activity usually resumes gradually within that period. Heavy lifting, strenuous exercise and significant upper-body movement stay restricted until the surgeon clears them.

**What are the common side effects?
**Temporary swelling, bruising, soreness and tightness are the usual ones. Temporary changes in breast or nipple sensation are also common, as is discomfort around the incision sites. These are expected effects rather than complications, though anything worsening should be reported.

**Can a Korean surgeon revise a breast operation done in the United States?
**The clinic offers revision breast surgery as a distinct service, and its stated approach is to analyze the cause of the previous result before planning a correction. For an assessment of a previous case, the prior records are needed in addition to standardized photographs. The exact document list is confirmed once the assessment begins.

What happens if I have a concern after I get home?
Send photographs of the concern to the clinic for remote review before anything else is decided. Typical practice is one in-person follow-up in Korea, with further check-ins handled remotely by photo or call. Anything acute — fever, rapidly increasing swelling, bleeding or severe pain — needs local medical assessment where you are, not a photograph.

Book a Consultation at TAE Plastic Surgery Clinic

Breast plastic surgery in Busan is offered at TAE Plastic Surgery Clinic, and the consultation is where the choice between augmentation, lift, reduction, revision and Trinity is actually made. English-speaking assistance is available for both online and in-person consultations, and consultations are arranged through the clinic's contact page. Online consultation is available, so an initial review can happen before you commit to travel. TAE Plastic Surgery Clinic is at 4th Floor, Gunam Building, 27 Gunam-ro, Haeundae-gu, Busan, South Korea, and opens Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 18:00 and Saturday from 09:00 to 13:00, closed Sundays and public holidays.

Disclaimer

This page is for general informational purposes and does not constitute individualized medical advice. Candidacy, technique, anaesthesia and outcome can only be determined in an in-person consultation with a qualified doctor. Individual results vary.

References

• American Society of Plastic Surgeons — Cosmetic Procedures

• US Food and Drug Administration — Breast Implants