The Seoul skin guide

Yes, and the answer changes completely depending on what you want done — the clinic that is best at lifting is rarely the one that is best at filler, and the cheapest is usually neither. Tell us three things and we can answer in one message instead of ten: what bothers you, roughly what you want to spend, and which days you are in Seoul.

Nothing. You pay the clinic directly on the day, at their own published price — the same one their Korean patients pay. We are paid by the clinics, and it does not change what you are charged.

You pick the clinic, the treatments and a time, and we ask them in Korean. We need the name exactly as it appears in your passport, your date of birth and a WhatsApp number — clinics register foreign patients by passport. There is no deposit, and changing or cancelling is free.

Ask for the itemised bill before anything is done, and check it against what we showed you. If it does not match, message us while you are still there — that is much easier to sort out in the chair than afterwards.

At some clinics, yes, and at others a counsellor plans your face and the doctor arrives to perform the treatment. Neither is wrong and the second is genuinely cheaper. What matters is knowing which one you are booking, so every clinic here says who consults you before you choose.

A high-volume clinic: several branches, a counsellor doing consultations, and doctors rotating through the treatment rooms. You get the same machine pointed at your face for less money, and less of anyone's judgement about whether it is the right machine. Fine for something simple. Riskier for anything where the plan is the hard part.

At the clinics used to foreign patients, yes — either the doctor or a coordinator. Not everywhere, though, so we mark which ones have someone and put those first when you are choosing. If a clinic you want does not, we can still arrange it.

Most, because that is where Koreans go. Myeongdong and Hongdae have plenty of clinics too, but they are the tourist end of the market and the prices show it. Gangnam is a twenty-minute subway ride from either.

For some things, yes. Boosters and lifting are usually felt after one. Toning takes five to ten before pigmentation really shifts, fat-dissolving injections two or three, and collagen stimulators around three. If you only have one trip, we will tell you which of your list is worth doing now and which needs a plan.

It varies more than anything else on this list. Some lasers and microneedling leave almost nothing. Injectables leave pinpoint marks for a day. Boosters can swell for a day or two. Lifting can be tender for several days, and fat-dissolving injections swell and bruise for about a week. Every treatment page gives its own number, and we plan around your flight home.

Numbing cream is standard and most treatments are more uncomfortable than painful. Injectables into the skin sting; some come in a version mixed with anaesthetic, which is worth asking for. Lifting is the one people describe as genuinely sharp, in short bursts.

They are not interchangeable. Some repair and thicken tired skin, some are mostly hydration, and they differ in how long they last and what they cost per session. Tell us what you are trying to fix rather than which brand you read about, and we will say which one that is.

Every treatment has some, and most of the bad outcomes come down to who is holding the device rather than the device itself. That is the whole reason we tell you who consults and treats you at each clinic. Bring up anything you are taking, and any past reaction, at the consultation.

Four or five is comfortable. Do the treatments early in the trip so anything visible has time to settle, and keep the last day for things that leave no mark. Two days works if you are only doing no-downtime treatments.

Only if it is scheduled badly. Redness after lasers and small bumps after injectables settle in a day or two, so the fix is doing those first and finishing with something that leaves nothing. Tell us your flight and we will order it that way.

It makes things hurt more and skin react more, so the week before and during is worth avoiding for anything with needles if you have the choice. It is not a reason to cancel.

Usually, and it is what most people fly here for. Some combinations are done in one sitting and others should be a few days apart — the clinic decides that on the day, and we ask beforehand so your schedule is not a surprise.