TikTok's Mysterious Dr. Kim Has Faced Criticism for Controversial Plastic Surgery Videos
Other users quickly called out Dr. Kim for the supposed botched surgeries.
Published July 8 2025, 11:31 a.m. ET
A TikTok user by the name of Dr. Kim, whose original profile is no longer available on the app, once shared several before-and-after videos of alleged patients whose plastic surgery procedures received tons of backlash. Although Dr. Kim no longer appears to have a confirmed TikTok account, he is still facing criticism over the photos that are still floating around on TikTok.
While some users on social media have likened the "after" photos of some of the patients to uncanny valley characters, others are insistent on critiquing the doctor rather than the patients, whose requests for face lifts or other facial reconstructive surgeries resulted in a total difference in appearance. Dr. Kim continues to be the butt of jokes on TikTok.
Plastic surgeon Dr. Kim faced controversy on TikTok.
The photos that have circulated of Dr. Kim's patients show them looking very different in their after photos, to the point of being almost unrecognizable. One elderly woman's after shot shows her with eyes that are stretched at the corners, and the same effect is on her mouth. Another patient's after photo shows altered earlobes that are likely not part of the work she had requested to be done.
Some TikTok users have shared Dr. Kim's videos of patients and tagged the doctor in the caption, but if you click on the name of the doctor, there is no active TikTok account anymore. It is possible that Dr. Kim has a new account, and there is an account with some similar before and after photos, it hasn't been confirmed to actually be Dr. Kim.
As it stands, though, plenty of users and even other plastic surgeons have shared their thoughts on Dr. Kim's work. One user by the name of Doctor Youn, who is a real life doctor, posted a video with his reactions to different before and after photos from Dr. Kim's patients. He explains in his video that it's important to focus on Dr. Kim and the doctor's methods rather than the patients themselves.
"People are commenting all over TikTok about this Dr. Kim's results," Doctor Youn says in his video. "Is this taking it too far on a 46-year-old?" He then questions the safety of doing "eight to 10 hours of surgery" on an elderly woman. He also says it's every patient's right to choose what procedures they want, but it's ultimately up to the surgeon to make the final call.
Some users believe the photos were taken too recently after surgeries.
Although the before-and-after photos and videos of Dr. Kim's patients have a lot of shock value, some users on a Reddit thread about the elusive plastic surgeon have speculated that the after photos are simply being taken too soon.
"Curious how this looks further out," one user commented. "I believe this was like a week after surgery. A lot of inflammation, I assume."
Another user wrote, in reference to a photo of one of Dr. Kim's patients, "I'm genuinely hoping this guy heals up much better than it looks in this picture, I couldn't imagine having to live with that."