Dr Wong is continues to be actively involved in academic plastic surgery. He regularly attends plastic surgery meeting to learn as well as to teach. He writes extensively and published in international peer review journals to share and expand on the current understanding the various aspects of aesthetic plastic surgery. His has contributed chapters on facial aesthetic surgery in key reference textbooks of plastic surgery such as Neligan’s Plastic Surgery and Grabb and Smith’s Plastic Surgery
Dr Wong’s Contributions to the Field of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery
He has been regularly invited as faculty to international plastic surgery meetings in the United States, Europe, Australia, South Korea, Russia, Taiwan, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Indonesia to lecture on various topics in facial aesthetic surgery including clinical anatomy, facelift, upper eyelid surgery, lower blepharoplasty and rhinoplasty.
He is a founding faculty member of the world-renowned facial anatomy teaching course, the Melbourne Advanced Facial Anatomy Course (https://mafac.com.au/faculty/dr-chin-ho-wong/) and continue to be actively involved in teaching and demonstrating facial anatomy in Melbourne Australia and in North America at the Aesthetic Meeting, the annual meeting of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS).
Dr Wong’s research has lead to the description of several key anatomical structures in the face that has advanced the understanding of facial anatomy today. In 2012 the paper entitled the tear trough ligament, the anatomical basis for the tear trough deformity was published in the journal Plastic Reconstructive Surgery (PRS) (https://journals.lww.com/plasreconsurg/Abstract/2012/06000/The_Tear_Trough_Ligament__Anatomical_Basis_for_the.30.aspx*). The tear trough ligament is a key anatomical structure that is responsible for the tear trough deformity, a common complaint of patients seeking facial rejuvenation. Understanding the cause of the tear trough deformity has been crucial for designing effective surgical as well as non-surgical treatment for the tear trough deformity. The tear trough ligament as described by Dr. Wong is now standard nomenclature in plastic surgery, cited in key reference text books and board examinations of plastic surgery and is studied by young plastic surgeons.
In 2013, the paper entitled Facial soft-tissue spaces and retaining ligaments of the midcheek: defining the premaxillary space was published in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (https://journals.lww.com/plasreconsurg/Fulltext/2013/07000/Facial_Soft_Tissue_Spaces_and_Retaining_Ligaments.9.aspx). This paper gave a detailed description of the important surgical anatomy of the mid cheek. With this knowledge, a safe and effective mid cheek lift was designed. This was followed by the publication of a surgical technique sutilizing this anatomy to perform the mid cheek lift in a paper in 2015 entitled Mid Cheek Lift Utilizing Facial Soft Tissue Spaces of The Mid Cheek. This was published in the journal Plastic Reconstructive Surgery (https://journals.lww.com/plasreconsurg/Fulltext/2015/12000/Midcheek_Lift_Using_Facial_Soft_Tissue_Spaces_of.4.aspx). This paper described a technique of combining eye bag surgery with a cheek lift as well as cheek fat grafting. When done in this combination, the results is profoundly rejuvenating, natural and long lasting. The long term efficacy and safety of this technique has been documented in this peer-reviewed publication.
Dr Wong published an approach to the transconjunctival eye bag removal that is able to address not only the eye bags but also able to eliminate the tear trough and rejuvenate the mid cheek effectively. This procedure is done via the conjunctival of the lower eyelid, with no incision on the lower eyelid skin, hence also call the scarless approach. This paper was published in the journal plastic reconstructive surgery (https://journals.lww.com/plasreconsurg/Fulltext/2017/08000/Extended_Transconjunctival_Lower_Eyelid.9.aspx) and was awarded the prestigious Best International Paper award for papers published in the PRS for the year 2017.
In the field of non-surgical treatments, Dr Wong’s work has also advanced the understanding and impact the modern used of fillers and toxins. The paper entitled Changes in the facial skeleton with aging: implications and clinical applications in facial rejuvenation published in 2012 in the journal the Aesthetic Surgery Journal details the changes of the facial skeleton with aging (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00266-012-9904-3). This work was significant in that this paper stressed the profound changes of the facial skeleton with aging and high lights areas that changes the most with aging. These are areas that would be in need of correction with our approaches to facial rejuvenation. This was followed by the paper entitled Newer Understanding of Specific Anatomic Targets in the Aging Face as Applied to Injectables: Aging Changes in the Craniofacial Skeleton and Facial Ligaments published in 2015 in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (https://journals.lww.com/plasreconsurg/fulltext/2015/11001/Newer_Understanding_of_Specific_Anatomic_Targets.9.aspx). This paper describes the advanced use of injectable fillers to enhance and rejuvenate the face in a safe harmonious and predictable manner. The anatomical basis, areas to be treated and techniques as explained in these papers are used in the teaching on the use of fillers worldwide today. These non-surgical and surgical techniques have been described in detail in chapter in the textbook Aesthetic Plastic Surgery in Asians entitled Correction of the Tear Trough Deformity.
These new anatomical concepts on the aging face have been described in detail in a chapter entitled Anatomy of the Aging Face in the key reference textbook in the specialty entitled PLASTIC SUREGRY.
Gray’s Anatomy is the most famous anatomy text in English. Dr Wong is one of a few rare surgeons asked to contribute to this classic text, recognizing his important, original research into facial anatomy and its changes during ageing. The Anatomy of Facial Ageing, appears in the 41st edition, published online in 2015.
Facelift, is one of Dr. Wong’s favorite procedures. The deep plane facelift is the current state of the art in facelift for the profound and completely natural effect attainable. Dr. Wong continue to be involved in teaching and research to advance the deep plane facelift through MAFAC (https://mafac.com.au/scientific-research/). Asian deep plane facelift is a unique procedure because of the unique anatomy of the Asian face. Dr. Wong published his experience with this unique procedure in the journal Plastic and reconstructive Surgery in 2022 (https://journals.lww.com/plasreconsurg/Fulltext/2022/01000/Asian_Face_Lift_with_the_Composite_Face_Lift.10.aspx*)
Many patients presenting for eyelid surgery has droopy upper eyelid. This condition is called eyelid ptosis (Latin for falling leaves). To achieve satisfactory results, in addition to the skin and fat excision, correcting the eyelid ptosis is critical. Ptosis correction is a complex and challenging procedure. With the conventional approach, there is a Significant risks of post-operative asymmetry of the upper eyelids. In 2020, Dr Wong published a novel approach to upper eyelid ptosis correction in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive surgery
(https://journals.lww.com/plasreconsurg/Fulltext/2020/12000/Upper_Eyelid_Ptosis_Correction_with_Levator.12.aspx). This technique enable protosis correction to be performed with greater precision and predictability. This paper won the Best Video Paper in the PRS for the year 2020 and this technique has been adopted by many plastic and oculoplastic surgeons throughout the world. A follow up article of this technique was published in 2021 in the journal Aesthetic Surgery journal (https://academic.oup.com/asj/article/41/10/1120/6154336). Dr. Wong’s work on upper eyelid ptosis correction has been awarded the 25th Yahya Cohen Memorial Lecture by the College of Surgeons, Singapore in 2022 (https://www.ams.edu.sg/colleges/CSS/awards-lectureships).