Palmistry, the art of predicting the future by reading palm lines, has always been very popular in Japan, only now modern day believers are taking matters into their own hands by using plastic surgery to alter or extend their life, love and success lines, and hopefully change fate.

Do you want to live a long and healthy life, find the man/woman of your dreams or win the lottery? Changing your fortunes may seem impossible, but an increasing number of Japanese are confident it’s as easy as altering your palm lines through plastic surgery. A reporter from The Daily Beast sat down with Takaaki Matsuoka, a plastic surgeon at the Shonan Beauty Clinic, who has so far performed 20 of these palm-line altering surgeries. Matsuoka knew nothing about palmistry until two years ago, when a client walked into his office and asked him to change some of her palm lines. Unsure he could pull off such a procedure, the doctor started searching through medical journals and found it was already practiced in Korea. He studied the methods and after the patient confirmed what she wanted altered, he performed the surgery for ¥100,000 ($1,000). It turned out alright, and since then 37 clients have had their palm lines changed or added at the Shonan Beauty Clinic alone.

Photo: Shonan Beauty Clinic

Dr. Matsuoka says the cosmetic procedure of altering palm lines is pretty simple, if you know what you are doing. It takes just 10 to 15 minutes and the wounds take a month to heal during which time they have to remain bandaged. But it’s imperative the surgeon use an electrical scalpel to burn the shaky lines into the skin and ensure a proper scaring remains. With a plain metal or laser scalpel the wounds heal but the new lines don’t form. But even with the right technique, these added lines don’t look perfectly natural, although that doesn’t seem to bother palmistry believers too much.

Photo: Shonan Beauty Clinic/Ameba

Apparently, most patients who decide to have their palm lines altered are men and women in their thirties who are strong believers in the ancient art of palmistry. Men usually want to change their money luck line and financial line, while women are interested in altering their marriage line. Some of them don’t have a marriage line and want it added, while those who have it believe it came to early in their lives and they missed their chance, so they ask for a new one. Patients can draw the modifications they want done with a marker, but Takaaki Matsuoka studied palmistry after noticing the growing interest in palm line cosmetic surgery, and can advise clients on what needs to be changed.

Photo: Shonan Beauty Clinic/Ameba

But does altering your palm lines really change your fortunes? Matsuoka isn’t too sure about that, but he believes it may have a placebo effect on his patients. If someone believes their luck will improve, it just might. His procedures have had some success though, as he remembers a woman who had her married line changed wrote him soon after the surgery to let him now she got hitched, and two male patients who actually won the lottery after altering their money-luck lines. Of course, he can’t say his surgeries were the cause, but it’s definitely a great way to advertise the service to new clients.

Source: The Daily Beast