The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 90

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 90

I had seen quite a few patients with facial paralysis, or Bell’s palsy.

While the prevalence isn’t that high, it’s immediately noticeable, and since it affects the face, patients inevitably feel a sense of urgency that they must get treatment.

You might leave a slightly sore back alone hoping it’ll get better, but how could you just ignore being unable to move your mouth or close your eyes?

Almost all patients seek medical attention immediately and try to receive every possible treatment they can afford.

This was the same then as it is now.

Modern society may be criticized for its appearance-obsessed culture, but the past was absolutely no different.

Among the four criteria for selecting talented individuals – appearance, speech, writing, and judgment – appearance ranked first?

Thus, I met quite a lot of facial paralysis patients who wanted treatment from the best physician, and I succeeded in treating them.

The more I did so, the higher my reputation grew.

Most facial paralysis cases are Bell’s palsy, and over 90% of this condition recovers completely within six months.

Of course, there are cases where complete recovery doesn’t occur and aftereffects remain.

Either they didn’t receive proper treatment early on, or even if they did, they were just unlucky cases.

– Divine Physician, please! Isn’t there some way?

As soon as I saw Chae Seongye, I thought of a certain man.

A young man who was a collateral member of the Hanbuk Peng Family and had passed the civil service examination.

Just before taking office, he developed facial paralysis and desperately searched for famous physicians with tears streaming down his face.

Ah, “tears streaming” isn’t a metaphorical expression. His eyes couldn’t close properly, so tears really wouldn’t stop flowing.

That friend had asked his family to arrange a meeting with me from the beginning, but due to subtle power struggles between the great families at the time, his request never reached the Sichuan Dang Family, and he missed his chance.

If he had just come directly, I would have met with him right away.

– It’s been almost a year now…

Since there were overwhelmingly fewer government positions than examination passers anyway, delaying taking office due to illness wasn’t difficult.

He said he would stay in Sichuan and focus on treatment, and I searched for treatment methods in various ways.

At first, I tried acupuncture, but he didn’t recover easily.

The medicine to expel wind was too old to be effective, and while relaxing the muscles did allow his eyes to close somewhat.

But his twisted face wouldn’t return to normal.

I asked Master if there was any solution.

– Well, I’m not sure. Couldn’t you separate it like bone-setting and then put it back together?

…Isn’t that torture?

Naturally rejected.

While considering various options, I thought of a treatment method I had learned in modern times called thread lifting.

‘The condition is quite similar to back then.’

The treatment goal was the same – to balance the imbalanced facial muscles.

When not moving his face, he looked fine, so it was less twisted than the Peng Family man.

But the duration had been much longer.

“Your taste, smell, and touch sensations are all normal, right?”

“That’s correct.”

All sensory nerves were fine.

“Please open as wide as possible, ah-.”

“Ah-.”

“Ee-.”

“Ee-.”

After carefully examining the motor nerve control and muscle condition, there were no completely misconnected areas.

“Fortunately, the nerve recovery itself is complete. The problem is that the muscles have hardened in a twisted state and need readjustment.”

“Yes.”

“Here, we’ll loosen the hardened masseter muscle and around the mouth with acupuncture and herbal injections, while lifting the sagging cheek muscles and jaw area with thread lifting. With consistent treatment, we can restore balance.”

Upon hearing my words, Chae Seongye opened his left eye wide.

Unfortunately, his right side only showed bizarrely twisted forehead wrinkles.

“What is thread lifting?”

Chae Seongye asked.

“This is a thread lifting needle. You connect a dissolvable thread to the needle, then remove the needle and leave the thread in place. It has the effect of continuously stimulating meridians, but this time we’ll use it for lifting purposes to support and pull up the muscle fibers.”

“Oh, Father! Aunt also had thread lifting, right? Because her jaw was sagging!”

While I mainly use it for pain treatment or supporting weakened muscles, as Chaerira said, oriental medicine clinics specializing in cosmetics also use it extensively on faces. The term “thread lifting cosmetic surgery” was created for this reason.

It was possible because it could increase skin regeneration and strengthen elasticity.

“That’s right. It’s a similar principle.”

Initially, I was skeptical about whether thread lifting treatment would be possible in the martial arts world.

Making and inserting thread wouldn’t be difficult, but… how do you make dissolvable thread? What about sterilization?

I didn’t have knowledge of physics and chemistry beyond high school level.

But even if I couldn’t do it, the Tang Family craftsmen could.

I had merely provided the idea that in my country, dissolvable thread was made from cow or sheep intestines.

The craftsmen, fired up with competitive spirit, quickly created dissolvable thread.

– Hahahaha! How could the Tang Family, which even makes invisible poison, fail to make mere thread?

Even in such harsh conditions, I – no, the Tang Family craftsmen and I – succeeded.

– Thank you so much! Now I can confidently hold up my head and enter the court. Hahaha!

How refreshing and cheerful that man’s face looked when he laughed heartily.

Master waved his hand telling me to hurry up and send him away, but I felt very proud.

“Will this treatment really cure this condition?”

Chae Seongye said. The moment he opened his mouth after minimizing his words and maintaining a stern expression until just now, his twisted face became even more noticeable.

Of course, it won’t be easy.

Even if thread lifting can strengthen and support muscles, it doesn’t properly balance the left and right sides.

If both sides had sagged together due to aging, I could just insert needles symmetrically on both sides to lift them up, but making it exactly like the left side to resolve the imbalance is quite high-level difficulty.

I’ll need to use long and short threads in various ways to adjust it little by little.

“It’s a bit much to say it will be cured. It’s difficult to make it 100% identical. But I have experience balancing it to 80-90% where the difference isn’t visible to the naked eye.”

“Ah!”

“Of course, the treatment period will take some time. You’ll need to do it consistently for about 6 months. At first you’ll feel changes, then there will be a period of stagnation. You’ll need to have patience during that time.”

Still, I was quite confident.

Even when throwing throwing knives, I trained to delicately control every muscle fiber with my internal energy, so I can see specifically where the problems are.

With enough time, I can match almost everything except for parts that are unavoidable due to deteriorated muscle function itself.

“I’ve lived like this for 30 years, so would 6 months of treatment be difficult?”

Chae Seongye said while touching his right face.

The way his touching hand trembled, even though it didn’t show in his expression, it seemed like he had a lot built up inside.

“You must have had a lot of stress during this time.”

“Sigh… Where do I even begin?”

Chae Seongye briefly lifted his head and reminisced about the past.

“I failed the civil service exam that I thought would be my last chance and was discouraged, but what could I do? I had to get a job to live. Back then, honestly, it wasn’t that hard for college graduates to find jobs. But since my face was in this state, whenever I said anything in interviews, the interviewers would flinch. I still remember it vividly.”

“Father…”

“Even when I pushed projects with my own ideas, I couldn’t get near executive meetings, let alone external meetings. Sigh, at least when my position got higher, they packaged it as being dignified even when I didn’t speak.”

So that’s why he was quiet at first.

Chae Seongye continued speaking while pressing firmly on the masseter muscle I had pointed out earlier.

“You don’t know how much I regretted it. What was I going to accomplish by looking at the ocean? Why did I go to Incheon that day? No, why did I even study for the civil service exam in the first place! At the very least, I should have gotten treatment right after it happened, instead of becoming some reclusive philosopher who couldn’t even die…”

“Father, you even thought about suicide?”

“That’s old history. Everyone who fails the civil service exam thinks about it at least once.”

It seemed like this was the first time Chaeri had heard this story too, as tears slightly welled up in her eyes.

Though I had only heard briefly, it was enough to imagine the difficult life caused by facial paralysis aftereffects.

I must cure him and show Chaeri her father’s brightly smiling face.

“So the treatment will only use acupuncture and that thread lifting thing? No medication?”

“Yes. It’s unnecessary for treating facial muscle contracture and imbalance. If you want, I can prescribe something in a supplementary sense to promote recovery.”

“…I see.”

Chae Seongye nodded while twitching his left eye again.

“Will we start treatment right away from today?”

“Yes. Thread lifting will be performed once every two weeks starting today, and acupuncture is better the more frequently you receive it. Please come at least twice a week.”

“Understood. I’ll visit according to the days the Clinic Director works.”

“Good. Let’s go to the treatment room right away.”

* * *

The daughter who had come into the examination room together went to the waiting room, and Chae Seongye was guided to the bed at the very back of the treatment room.

Since treatment had been delayed while consulting with Chae Seongye, he waited briefly with heat therapy while I gave acupuncture to several people.

“Doctor~ Please give me one barbed thread and 4 regular 38mm threads!”

Unlike the other people who received acupuncture treatment right away, when it was Chae Seongye’s turn, the Clinic Director requested thread lifting materials from the staff.

But barbed thread?

She hadn’t mentioned that earlier. Didn’t she just say thread lifting?

When he sent a puzzled look, the Clinic Director showed him two types of threads and explained.

“There are various types of threads, and this one has barbs attached to the thread. It’s more effective for lifting.”

“…?!”

The 3cm thread she had shown in the examination room earlier was the regular type. The barbed one was more than twice as long, and as the name suggested, really… had barbs attached to the thread.

“You’re going to put this into my face?”

Honestly, I was scared.

Of course I would do it even if it hurt, but how do you insert something this long and menacing-looking?

Shouldn’t there be anesthesia or something?

“Yes. It’ll be over quickly. Wait, this is cold.”

The Clinic Director nodded and applied something to my face.

“Is it anesthetic cream?”

“It’s povidone, antiseptic.”

Ah, the red medicine…

My hope for anesthesia was dashed.

“I’ll insert it right away. Relax your face.”

Before I was mentally prepared, the long needle pierced my face.

“…!”

Thread? This is called a thread? Well, she did say it would be inserted with needles.

With some exaggeration, it felt like thorny vines were drilling through my face.

It felt like muscles and everything were being destroyed, but I couldn’t even scream for fear that opening my mouth might cause something to go wrong.

“…!”

“The barbed thread is finished.”

The director wiped away the blood.

That fleeting moment felt like an eternity, and cold sweat was streaming down Chae Seongye’s face.

Compared to the first one, the regular thread lifting was nothing.

It made him frown slightly, but it wasn’t unbearable.

“I’ll proceed with acupuncture treatment now.”

He placed needles very densely, focusing on the areas he had identified as stiff.

This was something he had experienced during previous treatment attempts, so it was more bearable.

“You’ll stay like this for 20 minutes. If it gets too difficult, press the button!”

Then electroacupuncture was connected to the inserted needles, and the electrical stimulation began.

Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzt.

The Traditional Korean Medicine Clinic he went to before didn’t set it this strong.

Is this really okay? Was coming here the right choice?

Of course, he trusted his daughter, and he also trusted athlete Kim Ijin, his daughter’s senior…

It felt like his face was being torn apart and reassembled.

But time passed, and after 20 minutes, he was released.

Though his jaw was still numb, of course.

“Did you wait long?”

When Chae Seongye came out, Chaerira, who had been looking at her phone, raised her head.

“Huh? Father.”

“Hmm?”

She jumped up and dropped the phone she was holding.

“Your face!”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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