![Actor Lee Mi-young. [MBN "While You Were Sick" broadcast screen]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/06/15/news-p.v1.20260615.6f14f09a76a746aaa94b9676c0d1d839_P1.jpg)
Actor Lee Mi-young has spoken publicly for the first time about the years of suffering she endured following a botched lip procedure.
Appearing on MBN's "While You Were Sick" on June 14, Lee opened up about the ordeal. "This is the first time I'm confessing the lip story on television," she said. "I want people to know just how much I went through."
Lee recalled the period when her noticeably fuller lips became a talking point. "My lips were already full to begin with, but when I was in my 30s, younger colleagues told me that a little more volume would look really sexy," she said. "Back then, there was nothing like the lip fillers available today."
She said she was introduced to a specialist who had come from the United States and decided to go ahead with the procedure. "They told me it would make my lips look prettier and that whatever was injected would eventually pass out of my body through urine," Lee said. "So I gave it a try — but it never came out."
She revealed that the filler contained industrial-grade material rather than a medical-grade substance. "I thought it was fine and got two injections, but they were placed on both sides instead of the center, and my lips turned inside out," she said.
Beyond the physical pain, Lee said she was also bombarded with malicious online comments. "People poured out criticism asking why I had turned my lips inside out, and I was rejected from projects. My drama appearances dried up completely. I was cursed at endlessly," she said. "It was the biggest mistake of my life. The price I paid for that procedure was far too high."
She ultimately underwent two removal surgeries to restore her original appearance, but said the process was far from straightforward because the lips have thin skin and a dense concentration of blood vessels.
"They told me a full recovery to my original state would be difficult," Lee said, smiling. "Still, I'm satisfied with where I am now. I went through so much, but now everything has been cleared out — these are my lips again."
"The malicious comments made things unbearably hard, but I made a firm decision to speak out," she added. "I've spent a long time living with regret. I just hope people will stop misunderstanding and see me kindly now."
betterj@heraldcorp.com
