Glossary
Clinics and regulators use one set of words and patients search with another. Each entry below gives the official term, the everyday words for it, and where the two do not cover quite the same ground.
For the Korean names on clinic price lists, such as 물광주사 or 윤곽주사, see Korean clinic names in English.
- Aesthetic procedureAlso said as: skin treatment, cosmetic treatment, beauty treatment
A procedure done in a medical clinic to change how skin or the face looks, rather than to treat a disease: lasers, energy devices, injections and peels. This is what the industry calls aesthetic medicine.
In everyday use "skin treatment" is wider. It can also mean medical dermatology, such as care for acne or eczema, and salon facials. On this site it means the clinic procedures listed under Skin treatments.
See treatments
- Dermatology clinic (피부과)Also said as: skin clinic, derm clinic, Korean skin clinic
The kind of clinic where most of the procedures on this site are done in South Korea. Patients use the Korean word 피부과 for both medical and cosmetic visits.
In English "skin clinic" can also mean a beauty salon. This site covers procedures done in medical clinics, not salons. How to check a clinic before booking is in the visit guide.
See visit / how to find a clinic, official / clinic registration foreign patients
- Aesthetic concernAlso said as: skin concern, skin problem, skin issue
What a patient wants changed, such as pigmentation, acne scars, pores or sagging. Pages under Skin concerns start from the concern and lead to the treatments used for it.
See concerns
- Energy-based deviceAlso said as: skin laser, lifting laser, skin tightening machine, HIFU, RF
A machine that heats tissue with light, radiofrequency or focused ultrasound. Patients often call all of them lasers.
Strictly, only a laser uses light. Focused ultrasound, as in Ultherapy, and radiofrequency, as in Thermage, are not lasers.
See treatments / ultherapy, treatments / thermage flx, compare / thermage vs ultherapy
- Non-surgical liftingAlso said as: skin lifting, skin tightening, facelift without surgery
Treatments that tighten skin with heat, or support it with threads, without surgery.
Tightening is not the same as repositioning. Energy devices tighten tissue that is still in place; tissue that has descended is a thread lift or surgical question.
- InjectableAlso said as: skin injection, face injection, beauty injection
Anything injected to change appearance: botulinum toxin, fillers, collagen stimulators and skin boosters. They differ in what they do and in whether they can be reversed, which each treatment page sets out.
See treatments
- Skin boosterAlso said as: skin booster injection, glass skin injection, hydration injection
A marketing label for small injections spread across an area to improve skin quality rather than add volume. It names a technique, not a product, and products sold under it contain different actives.
See treatments / skin booster, compare / rejuran vs juvelook
- Botulinum toxinAlso said as: botox, anti-wrinkle injection, jaw botox, skin botox
A muscle-relaxing injection. Botox is one brand of it; Korean brands are sold under their own names.
- Dermal fillerAlso said as: filler, face filler, lip filler
A gel injected to add volume or shape. The filler page covers what it is made of and which kinds can be dissolved.
- HyperpigmentationAlso said as: dark spots, brown spots, uneven skin tone, melasma
Patches of skin darker than the skin around them.
Melasma is one specific kind, with its own treatment questions, and is not the same as a sun spot.
See concerns / pigmentation, treatments / pico laser, treatments / laser toning
- Recovery periodAlso said as: downtime, healing time
The days after a procedure when redness, swelling or bruising may be visible. Each treatment page lists it under Downtime in its key facts.
- Foreign patient (외국인환자)Also said as: medical tourist, skin trip to Korea, beauty trip to Korea
Someone travelling to South Korea for treatment. Korean law uses the term foreign patient, and the official pages explain the registration and visa rules that come with it.
See official / clinic registration foreign patients, official / medical visa