Medical knowledge library
Published by The Gioi Dep Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery Hospital — operating licence 428/BYT-GPHĐ, issued by the Ministry of Health.
Editorial principles
Articles are written by the hospital’s plastic and aesthetic surgery specialists and reviewed internally for clinical accuracy before they are published.
We take no sponsorship from device or implant manufacturers. Not one article here was written to sell a product, an implant brand or a particular material.
Every technique has something it cannot do, and risks of its own. We write those down, even when doing so makes a procedure sound less appealing.
Read first
Whichever operation brought you here, these four questions come first: who will operate on you, what a proper consultation looks like, how you will be anaesthetised, and what the price actually covers.
The most important decision in plastic surgery is not which procedure to have — it is which surgeon to trust with your body. This article gives a concrete checking framework and the questions to ask in consultation.
Read the articleA consultation is not a sales meeting. It is the clinical conversation that sets up everything that follows in surgery. This article gives a systematic way to approach it.
Decision aid Read
Anaesthesia is one of the biggest factors in surgical safety, and the part patients tend to ask about the least. This article explains the types and the international standards of care.
Safety Read
"How much will it cost?" is one of the first questions patients ask — and a question that is not simple in plastic surgery. This article explains the cost components and why a generic price list often confuses more than it clarifies.
Cost Read
4 articles
Common questions about structural rhinoplasty, revision rhinoplasty, the relationship between aesthetics and breathing, and what realistic recovery looks like.
Advertising often says "recovery in 7 days", but the real recovery from rhinoplasty runs to 12–18 months. This article describes what actually happens at each milestone — and the things less often spoken about.
Recovery Read
"Structural rhinoplasty" is a widely used phrase, but the surgery behind it varies between practices. This article defines the technique precisely, distinguishes it from neighbouring procedures, and explains the real limits of each option.
Background Read
The nose is not only an aesthetic feature — it is the principal airway. This article explains the anatomical regions that surgery can affect, when functional surgery should be combined, and the warning signs that should prompt a breathing assessment before surgery.
Background Read
Revision rhinoplasty asks for different surgical judgement than a first operation. This article discusses when to revise, when to wait, the realistic limits of a second operation, and how to approach the revision consultation.
Decision aid Read
4 articles
Telling eyelid techniques apart, correcting ptosis, and surgery around the eye — judged on long-term stability, not the result in the first week.
The three Vietnamese terms — cắt mí, bấm mí, and nhấn mí — refer to different surgical techniques, and the names are not always used consistently between clinics. This article explains the surgery behind each name, the long-term stability of each, and how to match technique to anatomy.
Decision aid Read
An eyelash transplant takes hair follicles (the small units that hold each hair root and the tissue around it) from your own body, usually from the scalp, and places them one by one along the lash line so your lashes look fuller and longer. Because the grafted hairs come from scalp hair, they keep growing the way scalp hair does, so you will need to trim them now and then.
Risk Read
"Dark circles" and "eye bags" describe surface appearances that can arise from several different causes — and each cause needs a different approach. This article explains the under-eye anatomy and distinguishes the treatment options.
Background Read
Ptosis is not always an "aesthetic concern". In many cases it signals an underlying medical condition that deserves investigation — sometimes neurological or muscular. This article explains the distinction and the surgical options.
Background Read
7 articles
Implants, long-term complications, reconstruction after cancer, and how to tell whether you need a lift or an augmentation.
Capsular contracture is the most common long-term complication of breast augmentation. Understanding the mechanism helps patients reduce risk, recognise it early, and decide when intervention is needed.
Risk Read
An inverted nipple sits pulled inward instead of pointing outward, because the milk ducts and tissue underneath tether it down. It comes in different degrees, from mild (the nipple can be drawn out and stays for a while) to more involved (the nipple is held deep and does not come out). Your surgeon will examine you to grade how marked it is and talk through which treatment makes sense for you.
Background Read
Reconstruction after cancer is not a single operation — it is a multi-stage journey. This article explains the main technical options, the factors that drive the choice, and the things patients are often not told in advance.
Decision aid Read
The areola is the darker area of skin around the nipple. When it stretches wider — through genetics, after pregnancy and breastfeeding, or for other reasons — it can leave the breast looking less balanced. Areola reduction surgery brings this area back to a more compact size.
Background Read
When people think about breast surgery, they often picture an augmentation or a breast reduction. Sometimes, though, your concern is more focused than that: it is the nipple itself you are unhappy with. A nipple can feel too large or project too far, and that can chip away at your confidence in a fitted top or with nothing on at all. Larger or longer nipples happen to both men and women.
Background Read
Augmentation addresses volume. Mastopexy addresses position. Sometimes one is needed, sometimes both. This article explains the difference and how surgeons assess the indication.
Decision aid Read
When considering breast augmentation, the choice of implant is an important and long-lived clinical decision. This article explains the common implant types — silicone gel, saline, gummy bear — and the trade-offs of each.
Decision aid Read
15 articles
Liposuction, abdominoplasty, and body contouring after major weight loss — with a straight account of what each one cannot do.
An arm lift is surgery that removes excess, sagging skin from the upper arm and smooths the line of the arm again. It suits some people more than others, and an in-person consultation will tell you more clearly where you stand.
Decision aid Read
A thigh lift is surgery that removes loose, excess skin on the thighs and firms the shape of the legs. It suits some people more than others, and your consultation is where you find out which group you fall into.
Decision aid Read
A buttock lift is surgery that removes excess skin and firms the skin of the buttocks and thighs once that skin has lost its elasticity. The procedure suits some people more than others, and an in-person consultation is the way to find out whether you are one of them.
Background Read
A bikini area hair transplant takes hair follicles from an area of your body that already grows hair (called the donor area) and moves them to the pubic area, the bikini area, to fill in thin spots or rebuild the shape you want. A follicle is the small structure under the skin from which a hair grows. Because the procedure uses your own follicles, the hair that grows in is genuinely yours.
Background Read
Sweaty palms, or palmar hyperhidrosis, is when your palms sweat far more than your body needs to manage its temperature. It can happen even when you are not warm and not moving. The points below can help you picture whether this approach might suit you.
Background Read
Excessive underarm sweating happens when the sweat glands in your armpits work harder than your body needs for cooling, leaving the area damp even when you are not hot and not moving. Treatment suits people whose sweating affects daily life, work, or social moments, after ordinary measures have not been enough.
Background Read
Liposuction is among the most misunderstood operations — often marketed as a weight-loss option. In reality it is body contouring, with narrow indications and clear limits.
Common myths Read
An absent testicle means that one or both sides of the scrotum hold no testicle. This can be something you were born with, the result of a testicle that never descended, or the outcome of an earlier removal done for medical reasons. Whether this procedure suits you depends a great deal on your specific situation, your overall health, and what you are hoping for.
Background Read
Excessive underarm sweating (known medically as focal axillary hyperhidrosis, where you produce more sweat than your body needs to cool itself) is a real concern that can affect your work, your social life and your clothes. Surgery is usually considered when gentler approaches have not done enough for you.
Background Read
Major weight loss — through diet, exercise, or bariatric surgery — is a major health accomplishment. But the process often leaves skin and tissue concerns that only surgery can resolve. This article explains the options.
Background Read
The navel sits at the visual center of your stomach. When it becomes distorted, shifts out of place, or loses its shape after earlier surgery, a hernia, or changes in your body, many people feel self-conscious about it. Belly button reconstruction is a procedure that reshapes the navel so it looks more natural and sits in better harmony with the skin around it.
Background Read
Everyone who comes to us for testicular reconstruction has their own reason. Some have recently finished cancer treatment, some have had an injury, and some were born missing one side. The consultation is where your surgeon comes to understand your situation and what you hope for, before any approach is discussed.
Background Read
Your belly button is the small scar left behind by the cord that connected you to your mother before birth. Most often it curves inward, but for some people it pokes outward, sits shallow and flat, or carries folds of extra skin. If the shape of your navel is something you think about and would like to change, this is one option worth considering.
Background Read
When the abdomen protrudes or sags, abdominoplasty and liposuction are often mentioned as alternatives — but they are very different operations with very different indications. This article explains the difference and how surgeons assess.
Decision aid Read
Foot aesthetic surgery is a group of procedures that improve the shape, the balance, or certain structural concerns of your feet - for example a toe that points off to one side, extra tissue, or a contour that does not sit right with you. It can be done for cosmetic reasons, for function, or for both.
Background Read
9 articles
Facelift, chin and jaw reshaping, and the medical distinction between filler and botulinum toxin.
Facial rejuvenation has many options — from filler to skin excision. Each addresses different problems at different stages of ageing. This article places the facelift in the wider picture.
Decision aid Read
An eyebrow transplant takes healthy hair follicles from your own body — usually from the scalp at the back of your head — and moves them into your brow area to add fullness and reshape it. A follicle is the small pocket under the skin where each hair grows.
Decision aid Read
A beard transplant moves small clusters of hair (called follicular units — tiny groups of one to a few hairs that share a single root) from an area of healthy hair on your own body, usually the back of the scalp, into a beard that is thin, patchy, or scarred. Because it uses your own follicles, the hair that grows in is real hair, and you can shave and trim it as you normally would.
Background Read
Acne scars are the small dips left on the surface of your skin, often after acne or certain types of skin inflammation have settled. Diamond microdermabrasion is a non-surgical treatment that works on the outermost layer of your skin.
Background Read
"Filler" and "Botox" are often discussed together in marketing, but they are entirely different substances with different mechanisms and indications. Understanding the difference is essential before deciding to inject — and before choosing an injector.
Decision aid Read
The chin and jaw form the bony frame of the lower third of the face. Reshaping them can change overall harmony significantly — and can also produce risk when intervention is not carefully considered.
Background Read
Non-surgical V-line contouring is a way to make the lower face look slimmer and more refined without working on the bone.
Background Read
Pores are the tiny openings on the surface of your skin where a hair grows out and the oil glands (sebaceous glands) release oil onto the skin. Pore size is shaped largely by your genes, how much oil your skin makes, and how firm your skin is, so it is often hard to change completely.
Background Read
A peel, or peeling, is a non-surgical treatment. Your doctor applies a solution to your skin (usually an acid solution at a suitable strength) to cause a controlled shedding of the old surface skin cells. This prompts your skin to renew itself and look more even and smooth.
Safety Read
16 articles
Cross-cutting topics: choosing a surgeon, anaesthesia, scars, recovery, cost, and the psychological side of the decision.
A consultation is not a sales meeting. It is the clinical conversation that sets up everything that follows in surgery. This article gives a systematic way to approach it.
Decision aid Read
The most important decision in plastic surgery is not which procedure to have — it is which surgeon to trust with your body. This article gives a concrete checking framework and the questions to ask in consultation.
Decision aid Read
Lymphedema is a condition in which lymph fluid builds up in the tissues because the lymphatic system — your body's drainage network — is not moving it along well. The result is lasting swelling in an area such as an arm or a leg. Diagnosis is a step for finding answers, not a treatment in itself. The goal is to learn whether you truly have lymphedema, what stage it is in, and what is causing it.
Background Read
"How much will it cost?" is one of the first questions patients ask — and a question that is not simple in plastic surgery. This article explains the cost components and why a generic price list often confuses more than it clarifies.
Cost Read
Masculinizing gender-affirming surgery is usually part of a longer journey, one that involves many steps across the physical, psychological, and legal. This is not a decision to rush, and every person follows their own path. A consultation gives you and the doctors a chance to look together at what feels right for you at this point in time.
Background Read
Gender affirmation surgery (male-to-female) is a group of reconstructive procedures that reshape the genital area so your body aligns more closely with your female gender identity. This is a significant and deeply personal decision.
Background Read
Lymphedema is the build-up of lymph fluid in the tissue when your lymphatic system cannot move it along quickly enough, causing an arm or leg to swell. It can come from a lymphatic system that did not form fully before birth, or from damage that happens later, such as after cancer surgery, after radiation, or from a parasitic infection.
Background Read
Anaesthesia is one of the biggest factors in surgical safety, and the part patients tend to ask about the least. This article explains the types and the international standards of care.
Safety Read
An arterial ulcer is an open wound, usually on the foot or lower leg, that appears when oxygen-rich blood cannot reach the tissue in large enough amounts because an artery has narrowed or become blocked. Whether you are a good fit for treating the wound depends on how well blood is reaching the limb, whether infection is present, and your overall health.
Background Read
Revision surgery is not a sign of "failed" surgery — it is a normal part of plastic surgical practice. This article explains when revision is the right indication, when to wait, and how to approach it calmly.
Background Read
Every operation leaves a scar — a biological fact, not a technical failing. Understanding the biology helps you take proper care and set realistic expectations.
Recovery Read
Reconstruction is a deeply personal journey. Every injury is different, and every body heals in its own way, so whether it suits you depends on the type of tissue that was lost, your overall health, and what you hope to regain. A face-to-face consultation with your surgeon is the only way to know for sure.
Background Read
Plastic surgery changes the body — and sometimes how patients see themselves. Psychology is an important but often under-discussed part of the decision. This article discusses it honestly.
Psychology Read
The brachial plexus is a network of nerves that runs from your neck, through your shoulder, and down into your arm and hand. When this network is stretched, torn, or cut, you can lose strength, lose feeling, or be unable to move part of your arm. Whether surgery suits you depends a great deal on the type of injury, how severe it is, and how much time has passed since you were hurt.
Background Read
The brachial plexus is a network of nerves that runs from your neck down into your shoulder and arm, controlling how your arm moves and feels. After radiation therapy (using radiation beams to treat cancer) in the neck, chest, or armpit, the surrounding tissue can thicken and press on these nerves over time. This is called radiation-induced brachial plexus injury.
Background Read
The first week is the heaviest stretch of recovery — and the one most poorly described in marketing. This article describes what really happens and what to prepare for in advance.
Recovery Read
Specific questions usually need specific answers, based on your anatomy and medical history — that is what a consultation is for.