To shed your 'girlish' image and transform into a glamorous figure after the CSAT

To shed your 'girlish' image and transform into a glamorous figure after the CSAT



Ms. Choi (19) has already been accepted through early admission and is waiting for the day she can go to college. She has more time than other peers preparing for the college entrance exam, so she is busy preparing for campus life, such as maintaining her figure, studying English, and obtaining a driver's license.

However, one worry weighs on my mind. Because my breasts failed to develop properly since childhood, no matter how much I work on my figure or dress up, I feel as awkward as if I were wearing my mother's clothes. I secretly eat foods said to promote breast growth, increase my protein intake, and even practice yoga that is supposed to enlarge them, but there have been no significant results. Eventually, I cautiously confided to my mother that I wanted to try breast augmentation.

In Korea, there are many tall and slender "skinny beauties," but glamorous women are hard to find. The average female bust size is an A cup, the smallest size according to bra standards. Although the body type of Koreans is gradually becoming Westernized due to changes in diet and lifestyle, strangely enough, breast development remains relatively slow. It is known that among Asian countries, the breast development of Korean women is weaker compared to that of Japan or China.

Large breasts are primarily influenced by genetics. Acquired factors, such as lifestyle habits, follow secondarily. If the breasts were underdeveloped during the growth process, the issue can be improved to some extent by changing lifestyle habits, such as dietary intake.

For example, for a female student going through puberty and experiencing secondary sexual characteristics, consuming foods rich in isoflavones—which help produce female hormones—and plenty of protein helps develop mammary gland tissue. A representative food containing isoflavones is soybeans. In addition, apples, potatoes, garlic, carrots, pomegranates, and barley are also helpful.

Above all, as the saying goes, "beauty sleeps," getting enough sleep helps your figure become more feminine. Shin Dong-jin, director of the Apgujeong SC301 Clinic, stated, "The amount of female hormones secreted during the growth period is a determining factor in breast size," adding, "While 'genetics' can be considered as a factor influencing hormone secretion, size is not determined by this alone."

This means that perhaps the cause could be that I did nothing but study hard during my school years. To the extent that the saying "you have to go to a good university to have an easy life" still exists, students in their formative years literally "stake their lives" on studying to get into top-tier universities. Looking back on my school days, I have hardly any memories of getting enough sleep.

A woman's breasts swell as female hormones are secreted throughout the body and stimulate the mammary glands. Female hormones are secreted from the pituitary gland when the first menstruation begins during the growth period. Director Shin Dong-jin emphasized, “The biggest factor determining the amount of female hormone secretion is ‘appropriate sleep duration,’” adding, “The period between 10 PM and 2 AM is the ‘peak time,’ so getting sleep during this time is key.”



If your growth period has already ended, it is unrealistic to expect a dramatic increase in breast volume through lifestyle changes alone. If you cannot give up a voluminous figure, surgery is the only answer. As the value placed on body shape increases, quite a few women decide to undergo breast augmentation to address their complexes.

While breast augmentation using implants is the most preferred method as it provides permanent enlargement with a single surgery, there is a growing trend of people turning to breast augmentation using autologous fat due to the recent emphasis on safety.

Autologous fat grafting breast augmentation has overcome the foreign body sensation, capsular contracture (hardening of the tissue surrounding the implant), and unnatural appearance associated with implants. However, simply injecting fat still leaves the problem of the transplanted fat being absorbed by the tissue, resulting in a reduction of the remaining volume. To address this, an upgraded version called "stem cell breast augmentation" has emerged.

Director Shin Dong-jin stated, “Injecting adipose-derived adult stem cells contained in fat tissue extracted from a patient’s abdomen or other areas into fat grafting surgery can increase the engraftment rate through the stem cells’ immunosuppressive response, resulting anti-inflammatory effects, differentiation into fat cells, chondrocytes, bone cells, and muscle cells, and the induction of angiogenesis.”

Director Shin Dong-jin emphasized, “To see proper results from stem cell breast augmentation, more than 1 million stem cells must be administered in a single procedure, and this figure can be verified using a cell counting device.”

Here, a 'secret weapon' is added to further enhance the engraftment rate. He injects 'microcapsules' that boost engraftment rates along with stem cells. Director Shin Dong-jin explained, "The components within the microcapsules act as a booster to increase the engraftment rate by maximizing the diffusion of stem cells as well as the formation and expansion of blood vessels." He added, "The injected capsules are evenly dispersed at the transplant site, maximizing the fat cell growth effect." He further stated, "Microcapsules can improve the problem of requiring two or three surgeries due to insufficient surviving fat volume after breast augmentation."

Reporter Jo Won-ik wick@sportsworldi.com