Getting Aesthetic Treatment in Korea: How to Tell If a Clinic Is a Dermatology Specialist

When getting aesthetic treatment in Korea, you can tell whether a clinic is a dermatology specialist by checking whether the Korean Dermatological Association red-label certification is displayed at the entrance. At ALIVE Dermatology Clinic, we have noticed during consultations that customers who fly in from Taiwan do thorough research before their trip, but their focus is often on procedure names — what they want injected, how many shots they want — while overlooking this point.

What does the red-label certification mean?

It means the clinic's doctors are dermatology specialists who completed 6 years of medical school plus 4 years of dermatology training. Aesthetic clinics are everywhere in Korea, but only those displaying this red label at the entrance are true dermatology specialists who have completed this training path.

Why shouldn't you look only at procedure names?

Because the same procedure produces different results on faces with different barrier conditions. Taiwan's climate is hot and humid, and many people actually have oily surface with dryness underneath, or even slightly rosacea-prone sensitive skin.

• At assembly-line style institutions, where numbing cream is applied and treatment is delivered at a fixed SOP depth and energy, post-treatment redness can linger
• Skin booster injections can even cause nodules to form on the face

What does our clinic do before treatment?

What we spend the most time on is never operating the device — it is first understanding the condition of the skin barrier, then considering how to proceed based on Taiwan's environment. Procedure names can be decided in advance, but the condition of the skin barrier has to be seen clearly first.