Peep Korea
Safety
Bring Questions. Not Just Photos.
What to send a Korean clinic before you fly, what to bring, and what to ask about the surgeon, anesthesia, the quote, refunds, aftercare and consent.
A phone full of screenshots feels like preparation. Someone else's nose, a jawline from a feed, a before-and-after from a clinic's page. It tells the doctor about other faces and tells you nothing about the plan.
The consultation is the last meeting where the plan is cheap to change. After the deposit, the surgery date and the flight, every new question costs more.
So send the facts before you fly, bring the questions in person, and take the answers home on paper. Procedure guides with their own pre-deposit lists are linked at the end.
Five things, in one message.
| Send | Include | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Your own current photos | Daylight, or the light your guide asks for; no filter or beauty mode; the angles it lists | The doctor plans on your face as it is now |
| Medical history | Conditions, bleeding problems, pregnancy, past reactions to anesthesia | Shapes the anesthesia plan and whether the procedure fits you8, 9 |
| Medications and supplements | Every prescription, painkiller, vitamin and herbal product, with doses | Some raise bleeding risk or change how anesthesia works8 |
| Allergies | Drugs, latex, tape, anesthetics | So the plan can avoid them9, 11 |
| Past procedures | Surgery, filler, threads, implants or lasers in the same area, with dates and product names if known | A treated area is a different starting point9 |
Drawn from American Society of Plastic Surgeons, American Society of Anesthesiologists and CDC guidance8, 9, 11. Your clinic may ask for more.
Supplements are the line people skip. The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) notes that half of people who use herbal supplements do not tell their doctors before surgery. Garlic, ginkgo, ginseng and vitamin E can increase bleeding, and you may be asked to stop supplements at least two weeks before a procedure.8 So send the list weeks ahead. Do not stop a prescription medicine on your own; ask the doctor who prescribed it.
Then describe the result you want, in words:
As our under-eye guide puts it, "a puff that grows when I look up" can be assessed; "dark circles" cannot. Leave other people's photos out. A stranger's result shows a different face, and a patient's before-and-after picture is that patient's personal information.6
Then read the name tags. Korean law requires clinics to have medical staff wear them so patients can tell who is treating them, with exceptions such as emergencies and the operating room.2 Write down the name of the doctor who examined you.
Six that change the plan; get each answer in writing.
| Ask | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Who will operate, and is it the doctor I am meeting today? | The consent must name the main operating doctor, and a change needs written notice with the reason1 |
| What anesthesia, who gives it, and who watches my monitors? | ASPS names proper anesthesia among the basics and says staff credentials abroad can be hard to check10 |
| What does the quote include? | The CDC advises knowing which services the cost covers12 |
| What happens if I need a revision or have a complication? | ASPS warns these costs can exceed the first operation10 |
| What is the refund rule if I cancel or the exam changes the plan? | Korea has a consumer dispute standard for cancelled cosmetic surgery7 |
| Who follows me up after I fly home? | The CDC says to know where follow-up happens and to plan for complications with both your doctors12 |
Questions for any procedure. The ASPS consultation checklist also asks how complications are handled and what your options are if you are dissatisfied9. Not a Peep endorsement of any clinic.
The surgeon. Article 24-2 does not say the consulting doctor must operate. It requires the consent to name the main operating doctor, and written notice, with the reason, if that changes.1 Compare the answer with the name tag you read. To check that doctor's specialty, see our guide to whether plastic surgery in Korea is safe.
The camera. If you will be unconscious under general anesthesia or sedation, Korean law has let you ask for the operation to be filmed on the operating room camera since 25 September 2023. Ask for the request form at the consultation: a request made too late for surgery to run on schedule can be refused.3 Our operating room CCTV guide has the details.
The money. The Korea Consumer Agency reviewed 272 complaints about prepaid clinic fees, mostly for skin treatments and cosmetic surgery, filed from 2016 to March 2019. In 91.9%, the patient had paid on the day of the clinic visit, after being offered a discount or similar. The agency advises against signing on impulse and tells patients to check the contract, the total, the deposit and the refund rule.7 Our safety guide lists the refund schedule; the foreigner price guide and cost guide show how to compare quotes line by line.
You can ask. Korea's Medical Service Act requires a doctor to explain and get written consent before surgery, a blood transfusion or general anesthesia that could seriously harm life or body. The explanation covers1:
You can ask for a copy of what you sign, and the doctor may not refuse without a valid reason.1 Korea's health framework law adds a right to a full explanation before deciding whether to consent.4
Neither Article 24-2 nor its decree sets when you see the form or requires English. So, before any deposit, ask by email for your procedure's consent form, in English or with a translation. Read it at home, not in a pre-op room. For a laser, filler or toxin, Article 24-2 may not apply; ask for the written aftercare and any consent form anyway.
The clinic may photograph you; ASPS lists photographs as one step of a consultation.9 Photos for your chart are part of treatment. Other uses carry extra rules under Korean privacy law5:
Medical staff are also barred from disclosing what they learn while treating you, except where a law allows.2 A dated example: a 2013 explainer written with the Korea Internet & Security Agency called posting before-and-after photos, or using them in other customers' consultations, without consent a privacy violation, even with part of the face blurred.6
So ask: who sees these photos, will any appear in ads, on social media or in other patients' consultations, and where is that written? If you do not want marketing use, leave that consent unticked and keep a copy.
This checklist is the base. Each guide adds what its procedure needs.
| Procedure | What that guide adds |
|---|---|
| Rhinoplasty | Method, material, graft source, old surgery notes |
| Double eyelid | Method, ptosis, photos looking ahead, up and down |
| Under-eye bags | Three daylight photos, incision, fat moved or removed |
| Jaw reduction | Relaxed and clenched photos, which bones |
| Hair transplant | Hairline and donor photos, who designs, extracts and places |
| Filler and jaw toxin | Product, dose, who injects |
| Thread lift | Who places the threads, the plan for dimples |
| PDRN and skin boosters | Product, its category in Korea, cc per session |
| Lifting devices | Ultrasound or radiofrequency, shots, depths |
| Fat dissolving and aqua peel | Generic ingredient or device, what the price includes |
| Skin clinics | One message for three clinics, compared side by side |
| Darker skin tones | Skin type, scar history, the doctor's experience |
| Any surgery | Five dates to get before you book the flight |
Each guide's pre-deposit list, checked October 2026.
Your own current photos in daylight, your medical history, every medication and supplement with doses, your allergies, and past procedures in the same area. Add a few lines, in words, about the result you want.
Describe it in words instead: what bothers you, how much change you want, what to keep. Another person's photo shows a different face.
Yes. The ASA says some, including garlic, ginkgo, ginseng and vitamin E, can increase bleeding, and others can prolong anesthesia. You may be asked to stop them at least two weeks before.8
Ask. Korean law requires written consent before surgery or general anesthesia that could cause serious harm, but it does not say when you receive the form or require English.1
The diagnosis, the method and why it is needed, the names of the explaining doctor and the main doctor, typical side effects, and what you must do before and after. You can ask for a copy of what you sign.1
Not necessarily, so ask. The consent must name the main operating doctor, and a change needs written notice with the reason.1
The doctor. Korean law puts the duty to explain before surgery on the doctor.1 A coordinator can help with booking and prices.
Only with your separate consent, after it tells you the purpose, who receives them, how long they are kept and that you can refuse. Refusing cannot be a reason to refuse you treatment, and you can withdraw consent later.5
Not on impulse. In 272 Korea Consumer Agency complaints about prepaid clinic fees, 91.9% of patients had paid on the day they visited, after being offered a discount or similar.7 Check the contract and refund rule first.
Yes, if you will be unconscious under general anesthesia or sedation, since 25 September 2023. Ask for the request form at the consultation, not on the day.3
Showing 5 of 11
This article is general education, not medical or legal advice, a diagnosis, or a promise of outcome. It prints no prices and names no clinics; nothing here is a Peep endorsement of any provider. Laws are described as of October 2026 and can change. The clinic's and the treating doctor's instructions come first, and medical decisions belong to the doctor, not a coordinator or interpreter. If you have a bleeding disorder, take blood thinners, are pregnant, or have reacted badly to anesthesia, tell the doctor before any procedure. For an emergency in Korea, call 119.
Korea winter festivals for January and February 2027: Hwacheon ice fishing dates, foreigner fees, buses from Seoul, and trout and snow festivals.
How foreigners buy K-pop concert tickets in Korea: ticket sites, passport checks, fan club presales, music show audiences, resale law, venues.
Gwangjang Market food guide for 2026: bindaetteok, mayak gimbap, yukhoe and kalguksu, food alley hours, cash or card, how to order at a stall price rules.
Korean drinking etiquette for visitors: two-hand pouring, turning away from elders, how to say no, alcohol-free options, legal age and public drinking rules.
