The questions people ask before they book a flight

Many nationalities can enter Korea visa-free for short stays, and a standard short-stay entry is enough for most surgical trips. Requirements depend on your nationality and on how long you plan to stay, and they change, so confirm with your nearest Korean embassy or consulate. If you need a letter confirming your appointment for a visa application or for leave from work, your coordinator issues one.

It varies by procedure — roughly a week for eyelid surgery, and longer for rhinoplasty with osteotomy or facial contouring, because the stay has to cover surgery, the first checks, and stitch or splint removal. Use the stay planner to see the range for the procedure you are considering, then have the surgeon confirm it during your video consultation before you book non-refundable flights.

Yes, and we would rather you did. It is fifteen minutes on video with the surgeon who would operate, not with a salesperson. Send photographs in advance and the surgeon reviews them, then tells you what is realistic and what is difficult. Take them front, 45 degrees and profile, in daylight, with no filter and no makeup on the area concerned. For eyelids, one relaxed and one with the eyes closed. A phone camera is fine; filtered photographs make an accurate assessment impossible. There is no charge for this.

Do not start from names. Start from two things. First, filter the before-and-after gallery by area. The listing shows which specialties are involved in each case and how many, and opening a case shows the names and specialties of the center team that handles that procedure. If a result stays with you, moving from there to the person is the surest route. Second, cases where an ENT surgeon joins for the nose, or a breast-and-endocrine surgeon joins for the chest, are about team composition rather than one individual. If it is still hard to decide, send your photographs and your concern. We assign you to the surgeon who handles that area, and if the consultation shows a different surgeon suits you better, we tell you before surgery, not after.

Some combinations are better done together and some are better separated. Double eyelid surgery with ptosis correction, or cheekbone, jaw and chin in one contouring session, are common here. But combining lengthens your time under anesthesia, and depending on what is combined, recovery and the recommended stay change. So does the quote. What to combine and what to split is decided in the consultation, with anesthesia time and the recovery schedule calculated together. When finishing everything in one trip becomes the goal, recovery is what gets pushed back.

Tell us first. Not so that we can decline you, but because finding out late is what wrecks a schedule. There are situations where we do not proceed — uncontrolled systemic disease, bleeding disorders, pregnancy. List every medication and supplement you take, including anything you take without a prescription, mention it at the video consultation, and bring the list with you. Some medications need adjusting before surgery, and your surgeon and an anesthesiologist review that together. If your existing test records are not current, pre-operative blood work or imaging may be added; where that applies, it is itemised on your written quote before you decide.

No. The surgical fee is the same one a Korean patient pays for the same operation. There is no separate international price sheet and no surcharge for booking from abroad. Your fee also does not change depending on who referred you or which agency you came through. What we do not publish is a price list. A single figure labelled "rhinoplasty" is only true for one specific plan and would have to be revised the moment we examined you. A quote that changes is worse than no quote. So you receive a written, itemised quote after your consultation instead.

Major credit cards and bank transfer. A deposit confirms your surgery date and the balance is settled at the clinic. Currency, card details and the deposit amount are confirmed in writing on your quote before you pay anything. If we examine you on arrival and conclude that surgery is not appropriate, your deposit is refunded. If you cancel, the terms that apply are the ones stated on the quote you received before payment. Ask about anything on it that is unclear — that is what the document is for.

The items that can arise are a fixed list, and we write that list out for you before you decide. Revision of surgery performed elsewhere can change operating time and technique depending on existing scar tissue. Cartilage or graft material beyond what the base plan assumed may be needed, and if your test records are not current, pre-operative tests are added. Sometimes more visits or a longer stay turn out to be necessary. Where any of these apply, they are itemised on your written quote, and if the in-person examination changes the plan, you are told before surgery, not after. You can still cancel at that point.

An interpreter is with you at the consultation, at the design confirmation on the morning of surgery, and at every follow-up visit — not only at reception. English is always available; other languages can be arranged with advance notice. You also receive a written summary of what was agreed at the end of your consultation.

Yes. You are assigned to a specific surgeon, and we limit the number of operations scheduled in a day so that this holds. If for any reason it cannot, you are told before surgery, not after.

You arrive in the morning with a clean face, no contact lenses, and nothing to eat or drink since midnight. Your surgeon draws the plan directly on your face and explains it with the interpreter, and nothing begins until you agree with what has been drawn. An anesthesiologist stays with you throughout the operation, and nursing staff remain with you in the recovery room until you are stable. You return to your hotel with your coordinator in the afternoon, and there is a short check the following day. That check is not optional. The order of the day, from arrival to going back, is set out step by step on the international patients page, with how long each stage takes. Because appointment times differ from patient to patient, it is written as a sequence and durations rather than as clock times.

Yes, and for some procedures it helps. Tell your coordinator in advance so that accommodation, transfers and the surgery-day schedule account for them. Companion accommodation is not included in the package unless it is arranged beforehand. There is a café and a 24-hour convenience store within walking distance of the clinic where a companion can wait.

You are under anesthesia during the operation, so you do not feel the surgery itself. It is afterwards that matters. For most people what comes first is not pain but swelling, a feeling of tightness, and a few days of discomfort. After eye or nose surgery, sleeping position and washing your face are awkward for several days; after contouring, chewing is difficult and you will live on porridge and soups — there are restaurants serving exactly that within walking distance of the clinic. Liposuction means wearing a compression garment for about two weeks. You go back to your hotel with medication including painkillers, written aftercare instructions in your own language, and an after-hours number. None of that means grit your teeth. If it hurts more than you expected, call us rather than waiting for your next appointment. Pain varies a great deal between individuals.

An anesthesiologist stays with you for the whole operation, monitoring blood pressure, pulse, oxygen and breathing continuously, and adjusting to you rather than to a fixed protocol. Three anesthesiologists work here full time. They are not called in on the day of surgery, which is what allows the surgeon to concentrate solely on operating. Even so, all anesthesia carries risk. That is exactly why accurate information about your medication, supplements and previous anesthesia matters — please bring that list.

After stitch or splint removal and your final check. When that falls depends on the procedure and on how quickly you recover, so your surgeon confirms it at your last appointment. Two suggestions. First, look up the recommended stay for your procedure on the stay planner and take the longer end of the range — the figures we publish are already the generous end, so that you do not have to change your ticket. Second, book a changeable fare if you can. Recovery differs from person to person, and pulling the schedule forward over a day or two is the worst trade you can make.

Two different things get confused here. One is the time you must stay in Korea, which is set by stitch removal and the final check. The other is the time until swelling has settled enough that people around you would not notice, which is longer, and which varies with the procedure, your skin and how much bruising you happen to get. Every procedure page lists peak swelling and the point where things look natural as separate figures. Your surgeon gives you both rather than quoting only the shorter one.

This is the most common worry, and it contains two different things. One is swelling. Your face immediately after surgery is not the result, and you should not judge it from photographs taken then; time settles that one. The other is the plan. If the size or height goes outside your own facial proportions, it stays that way after the swelling goes down, and time does not settle that one. So in the consultation we match how much change you want against photographs and drawings, and on the morning of surgery nothing starts until you agree with the plan drawn on your face. If we judge that a plan would change more than you asked for, we say so. Results and recovery still vary between individuals, and no result can be promised in advance.

Remote follow-up continues for three months. Photographs are reviewed at set intervals with a written response from your surgeon, and a video call when photographs are not enough. Your coordinator holds the schedule. If something concerns you between checkpoints, send it in rather than waiting. Where being seen in person locally is the better option, we write up a summary for the clinician who sees you, and medical certificates and operative records are issued in English.

We look at timing first. Tissue cannot be judged before it has settled, and that is usually a matter of months rather than weeks — which is the reason the three months of remote follow-up exist. Send photographs and your surgeon responds in writing; when photographs are not enough, we arrange a video call. Where a revision turns out to be appropriate, the terms are discussed openly and put in writing. Where going in now is the worse option, we say that instead, because a rushed second operation is how a third one happens. We also perform revisions of surgery done elsewhere; those are quoted separately, because existing scar tissue changes the work involved. If you have your operative records, send them too.

Then we will tell you. There are cases where the concern does not need an operation, where a different approach is better, or where waiting is the right advice. Saying so costs you nothing, and it is the answer we would want if we were on your side of the table.