In brief
In 2025, plastic surgery accounted for 11.2% of speciality visits by international patients.
233,100 international patients in 2025. Source: Korea Health Industry Development Institute.
Korea has a large and highly specialised plastic surgery sector, concentrated in Seoul. Procedures range from minor eyelid surgery under local anaesthetic to major facial bone surgery under general anaesthetic.
Surgery is not a beauty treatment to be fitted around a holiday. Recovery, follow-up visits and the risk of complications ought to be planned for before you book any flights.
What is offered
- Eyelid surgery (double eyelid, ptosis correction)
- Rhinoplasty
- Facial contouring (jaw and cheekbone surgery)
- Facelift and fat grafting
- Breast surgery
- Liposuction and body contouring
- Revision surgery
How matters are arranged in Korea
- Cosmetic surgery falls outside Korean national health insurance, and each clinic sets its own prices.
- Ask who will operate. In high-volume clinics, surgery by a surgeon other than the one you consulted, without your consent, is a recognised risk.
- Ask whether an anaesthetist will be present for sedation or general anaesthesia.
Planning your stay
- Arrange your stay around the surgeon’s follow-up schedule (such as the removal of stitches and routine checks), and not the other way round.
- Major surgery under general anaesthetic calls for a longer stay and a health check before the operation; ask the clinic which tests it requires.
- Flying soon after surgery raises the risk of blood clots. Ask the surgeon when it will be safe for you to fly.
The risks, plainly stated
- Complications of anaesthesia, bleeding, infection and blood clots.
- Asymmetry, scarring, or results that require revision surgery.
- Nerve injury in facial bone surgery.
Every procedure carries risk. Only the treating doctor, having examined you, can say whether a treatment is suitable.
Questions to put to the clinic
To take with you
- Who is the operating surgeon, and are they a board-certified plastic surgeon?
- Who will give the anaesthetic, and what emergency equipment is kept in the operating theatre?
- How many follow-up visits will I need, and over how many days?
- Should revision surgery be needed, what happens, and who pays?
For a few words of Korean at the reception desk, Day1Korean has short conversations to listen to and repeat.
Who ought to treat you
A board-certified plastic surgeon (성형외과 전문의). A clinic opened by a plastic surgery specialist may carry the speciality in its name (…성형외과의원); otherwise the speciality appears only as a department (진료과목). Ask which surgeon will operate, and check the type of their licence.
Before you book, use our safety checklist to confirm the clinic’s government registration and the doctor’s licence.
Sources
- Korea Health Industry Development Institute — 2025 International Patient Statistics Report (외국인환자 유치실적 통계분석 보고서)
- Medical Service Act (Korean Law Information Center)
- Medical Korea (KHIDI) — registered foreign-patient institutions and support
Last reviewed on 25 October 2026. See our editorial policy.