Korean Facelift: SMAS, Mini or Crystal, and Two Weeks in Seoul

I am Im Young Min, Chief Director and board-certified plastic surgeon at VG Plastic Surgery in Seoul. I trained at Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, where I am an adjunct professor of plastic surgery, and I consult on facelifts in our anti-aging centre. Messages asking about a Korean facelift usually start with the same photo: a jawline that has softened and folds that have deepened beside the mouth.

Profile

Im Young Min

Chief Director · Board-certified in Plastic Surgery

• — Ph.D. in Medicine
• — Internship and residency, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital
• — Board-certified plastic surgeon, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital

What a Korean facelift actually lifts

When a face sags, more than the skin has given way. The layer beneath it, the SMAS, has descended too, and so has the muscle of the neck. Pull the skin alone and it stretches back by as much as it was pulled, and the face looks taut rather than younger.

So the Korean facelift we perform works one layer down. Through an incision in front of the ear that follows its contour, the skin is separated from the loosened SMAS, that tissue is trimmed, and it is fixed to the temporal muscle and drawn up. Because it is anchored to tissue that does not stretch, the lift holds. Only then is the excess skin trimmed and closed without tension.

Who a facelift suits — and who should wait

These are the situations where a facelift is a reasonable answer.

• Sagging across the whole face, not just one spot
• Threads or other lifting treatments have not given you the result you wanted
• The jawline and cheeks have loosened after earlier facial contouring surgery
• You can stay in Korea for two weeks or more for stitch removal and follow-up

I also tell people when not to go ahead. Hearing that before you book a flight is part of the consultation.

• Volume loss, rather than sagging, is the main cause — then we look at fat grafting first
• You have been diagnosed with hypertrophic or keloid scarring
• Your schedule does not allow two weeks in Korea
• An uncontrolled systemic illness or a bleeding disorder

The first photo above is the side view of the case at the top of this page; you can see this full-face facelift case in full, or browse every before-and-after photo by area.

Three kinds of facelift in Korea, compared

People who look up facelift in Korea often find three names and no explanation of the difference. The difference is how deep and how wide the operation goes, and whether bone is involved.

SMAS facelift

This is the operation described above. The cheeks, the folds beside the nose and mouth and a slackened jawline can be treated in one procedure. Where the neck and cheeks hold fat as well as loose tissue, liposuction can be done at the same time.

Mini facelift

The mini facelift still reaches the SMAS, but the dissection is smaller and the incision is limited to part of the scalp and around the earlobe. It suits sagging that sits mainly in the cheeks and the folds around the mouth. If the jawline and neck have come down too, the mini range will not reach them.

Crystal facelift

This is the Korean face lift people ask about when the face looks wide as well as loose. When a wide cheekbone or an angular jaw makes the face look heavy, the bone is reduced while the loosened layer is lifted, so contour and sagging are handled in one operation. The bone work itself is covered on our facial contouring page.

Surgery day and the recovery timeline

You arrive 90 minutes before your slot. I draw the plan on your face and go through it with you, with the interpreter present, and nothing starts until you agree to what is drawn.

The operation takes about 2–3 hours under sedation, and an anesthesiologist stays with you for the whole of it. You rest in the recovery room until you are stable, and no hospital admission is needed.

For the first nights, sleep with your head raised on two or three pillows. You can wash your hair from the day after the stitches come out.

Coming to Seoul for a facelift: days to stay and follow-up

For a face or neck lift, plan to stay in Korea at least 14 days. That covers the swelling peak, stitch removal at one week and the follow-up visits before I confirm you are safe to fly.

1. Arrival: pickup and the in-person consultation
2. Surgery day, then recovery at a partner hotel within walking distance of the clinic
3. Scheduled checks and dressing changes during your stay
4. Stitches out one week after surgery
5. Final check before flying, and remote follow-up set up

The day-by-day stay planner lays this out against your own dates. After you go home, follow-up continues for three months by photograph review with written replies, and you leave with your operation record and instructions in English.

On the fee: international patients pay the same surgical fee as Korean patients, with no foreigner surcharge and no agency commission built in. Our pricing policy explains what the written, itemised quote covers, which you receive before you decide anything.

Surgery or threads: the question I hear most

Many people ask whether a thread lift or an ultrasound treatment could do the same job. It comes down to one thing: whether the slack skin is removed. Threads, ultrasound and radiofrequency cut nothing, so the skin that has stretched is still there.

A facelift pulls the SMAS and the skin directly and cuts away what is left over. That is not a verdict on any non-surgical treatment, and I do not compare how long each one lasts. It is why I look at how far things have descended before recommending either.

What I check first in consultation

A facelift on its own is the exception rather than the rule. The neck, the under-eyes, the forehead and hollow cheeks are often addressed in the same plan; if heavy upper lids are part of it, eyelid surgery in Korea is explained separately. My background and the areas I operate in are on my profile page.

Risks, and how we reduce them

A facelift is surgery. Swelling is expected, asymmetry can show while tissue settles, and a scar sits in front of the ear. Recovery differs from person to person, and I would rather you hear that before you book than after.

• Scarring: the incision follows the contour of the ear and the skin is closed without tension; a history of keloid scarring is a reason not to go ahead
• Anesthesia: an anesthesiologist stays with you for the whole operation, monitoring blood pressure, pulse, oxygen and breathing
• Bleeding: an uncontrolled bleeding disorder or systemic illness is screened for before we plan anything
• Leaving too early: the 14-day minimum exists so that stitch removal and the checks happen here, not by guesswork after your flight

If you are weighing up a Korean facelift, the full facelift page sets out each type and our results by area in more detail.