Founder & Chief Director
Dr. Ryu is a Leading Authority in the DEEP PLANE FACELIFT and a Global Educator, recognized for his expertise in Facial Rejuvenation surgery and anatomy.
As a lecturer, tutor, and surgical demonstrator, Dr. Ryu is invited to teach DEEP PLANE FACELIFT techniques through lectures and cadaver dissections across more than 15 countries, including Korea, the US, Europe, Singapore, Australia, and Japan.
He is the only surgeon at RNWOOD. One facelift is scheduled per day, and Dr. Ryu carries out the consultation, the operation and the daily post-operative checks himself.
Dr. Ryu
Dr. Ryu has been a Faculty Member of the Mendelson Advanced Facial Anatomy Course (MAFAC) since 2016, teaching deep-plane dissection in hands-on cadaver workshops. Since 2023 he has taken part as faculty in the Mendelson DEEP PLANE FACELIFT and Mayo Clinic Aesthetic Facial Contouring Hands-on Surgical Skills course held at Mayo Clinic, Rochester.
He serves on the Editorial Board of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (SCI) and on the Educational Council of ISAPS. He is an active member of KSPRS, ASPS, ASAPS and ISAPS.
Faculty Member at the Mendelson Advanced Facial Anatomy Course (MAFAC) since 2016. Guest Faculty Member at Mayo Clinic since 2023.
Dr. Ryu began presenting at Plastic Surgery congresses in 2005. Since then his lectures, panels, chaired sessions, live surgery demonstrations and cadaver workshops have covered facelift, High SMAS facelift, DEEP PLANE FACELIFT, facial surgical anatomy and facial rejuvenation.
The roles he has been invited to take are Invited Lecturer, Oral Presenter, Panel Speaker, Faculty, Cadaver Workshop Faculty, Live Surgery Demonstrator and Instructional Course Lecturer.
Five ideas shape how the operation is planned and carried out.
01
Releasing key facial retaining ligaments, including the zygomatic ligaments, allows the deeper facial tissues to move freely and be repositioned. By releasing these anatomical points of fixation, the facelift is not dependent on simply pulling the skin, allowing the underlying tissues to be restored in a more natural position.
02
Dr. Ryu incorporates a High SMAS approach to achieve more comprehensive control of the midface and lower face. By working at a higher level of the SMAS layer, the technique allows elevation and repositioning of tissues that contribute to midface descent, cheek flattening, and lower-face laxity.
This helps create a more continuous transition between the cheek, nasolabial region, jawline, and neck, rather than treating each area as an isolated component. The goal is to restore the deeper facial architecture while maintaining natural facial movement and expression.
03
The composite concept focuses on preserving and repositioning the patient’s existing facial tissues rather than unnecessarily removing them. Skin, SMAS, fat compartments, and deeper soft tissues are treated as interconnected structures, allowing volume and contour to be restored while maintaining the natural relationships between the layers.
Preservation also applies to the skin itself. By minimizing unnecessary undermining and excessive manipulation of the skin, the technique aims to reduce skin trauma and preserve its blood supply. Less disruption to the skin can contribute to less tissue stress, more efficient healing, and a smoother recovery, while allowing the deeper tissues to provide the primary support for the rejuvenated appearance.
04
The extended approach expands the deep-plane dissection beyond a limited central release to allow more extensive mobilization of the facial soft tissues.
For Dr. Ryu, the importance of the extended approach is not simply making the dissection larger, but releasing the specific anatomical structures that restrict movement, allowing the deeper tissues to be repositioned more comprehensively. This can provide more effective correction of midface descent, lower-face laxity, and jowling while maintaining a natural transition across the face.
05
Rather than routinely removing buccal fat, Dr. Ryu may mobilize and reposition the buccal fat into areas of volume deficiency, particularly hollow or flattened areas of the midface. This preserves the patient’s natural facial volume while using existing tissue to restore youthful contour and support. The goal is to avoid unnecessary fat removal and the overly hollow appearance that can result from excessive volume loss.
RNWOOD is a facial rejuvenation practice.
RNWOOD takes only one surgery per day. There is no second operating list and no second surgeon; every stage of the day belongs to one patient.
During the seven to ten days you stay in Korea, post-operative treatment and review are provided daily — hyperbaric oxygen therapy, Healite LED therapy, and a personal evaluation by Dr. Ryu.
Surgical planning starts from symptoms. No symptoms, no surgery. If an operation is not the right answer for what you are describing, Dr. Ryu will say so at the consultation.
A facelift repositions tissue that has descended. It cannot stop aging or guarantee a specific appearance, symmetry, or result duration.
No result, scar quality, symmetry, duration, complication-free recovery, or freedom from revision surgery can be guaranteed. Every surgical procedure carries the possibility of side effects and complications, and individual outcomes and recovery vary.
Qualification
Current Academic Appointments
Past Academic Appointments
Society Memberships
Surgical Training Abroad
Seven papers on facelift anatomy and technique.
Congress presentations, panels, chaired sessions, live surgery demonstrations and cadaver workshops, 2005 to 2025.
Guest Faculty, Mayo Clinic
Mendelson DEEP PLANE FACELIFT & Mayo Clinic Aesthetic Facial Contouring hands-on cadaver workshop, Rochester, MN, USA — invited annually since 2023.
Faculty, MAFAC
Mendelson Advanced Facial Anatomy Course cadaver workshop faculty in Melbourne, Amsterdam and beyond — invited nearly every year since 2016.
ISAPS Olympiad World Congress
Panelist and session chair, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore — the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery's flagship world congress.
Live Surgery Demonstration
MEVOS International Congress of Aesthetic Surgery and Medicine, Hangzhou, China — live DEEP PLANE FACELIFT demonstration to an international audience.
Qualifications, teaching and academic work, and how a consultation and the days after surgery are handled.
Send front and side photographs without make-up or coloured lenses, together with your surgical and medical history, and Dr. Ryu will review them before your visit.
Consultations are held in person at the clinic in Gangnam, Seoul. English, Chinese, Japanese and Indonesian speaking consultants are available.