Hang Mioku’s story – How her addiction to plastic surgery caused her downfall

Hang Mioku became the face of botched plastic surgery when her drastic before-and-after pictures made international news in 2008. Before her 20-year-long addiction to plastic surgery changed her life, she was an up-and-coming model and singer in South Korea.

Despite her conventionally attractive features, Mioku first experimented with plastic surgery when she was 28 years old and thus her downward spiral began. At the time, she was promoting her music in Japan and simultaneously indulged in numerous cosmetic procedures. When she returned to Korea, her parents could no longer recognize her.

Hang Mioku injected cooking oil into her face after she ran out of silicone, permanently disfiguring her face

Hang Mioku desired to have ‘smoother and softer skin’ and became obsessed with changing and improving her appearance through plastic surgery. At one point, her addiction reached to such a great degree that doctors refused to perform any more procedures on her.

One doctor even recommended she examine her unnatural behavior and mental health, alluding to the possibility of an undiagnosed psychological disorder. She was referred to a psychiatrist by her parents when she reached Korea.

Initially, things were looking up for Mioku as she began to treat her mental health. However, the prolonged treatment proved to be expensive and she fell back on her old ways, resorting to plastic surgery once again.

According to media outlets, a doctor in Korea agreed to inject silicone into her face. He went a step further and provided her with a syringe and silicone for her to use at home. Other sources claim that she procured the silicone from a black market after failing to get the desired injections from surgeons.

When the silicone ran out, Mioku injected cooking oil into her face, permanently disfiguring her appearance. It was a desperate action driven by a lapse in judgment and the results were not good. The oil caused extreme swelling and scarring on her face.

Mioku underwent corrective surgeries to remove the oil and silicone from her face and neck

After the incident with the cooking oil, Mioku’s head and face became disproportionately large in comparison to her body. She was nicknamed the ‘fan lady’ and ‘standing fan’ by the neighborhood children for her unusual frame.

“My face has become like this and everything is messed up. I can’t work and I can’t live without government support. I wish to go back in the past,” said Mioku in a television appearance that popularized her story.

After hearing about her plight on the show, viewers donated enough money to fund her corrective surgeries. She underwent more than 10 separate surgeries to gradually remove the foreign substance from her face and neck – a total of 260 grams of silicon and oil were removed.

While the surgeries significantly reduced the size of her face, her original appearance could not be restored. Hang Mioku, who is now in her sixties, was last known to be working in a recycled clothes shop in Korea called The Beautiful Shop.