How much Korean skincare can I bring into Japan?

More than the figure usually quoted. Standard-size cosmetics are capped at 24 pieces per item, but anything of 60 g or 60 mL or less has its own allowance of 120 pieces per item, and a single-use sachet counts as one piece. So sheet masks and sample-size serums sit in the larger bracket. Note "per item" rather than in total: the ministry defines an item as the product type, meaning shampoo and treatment each get their own count. External-use medicines, where a clinic's medicated creams land, are capped at 24 pieces.

Do I need a certificate for a prescription from a Korean clinic?

For Japan, not if it is a month's supply or less, which covers the usual course after a skin treatment. Other destinations set their own figure, and Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration publishes the exemption that applies there. The pattern is the same everywhere: an ordinary personal quantity, in its original packaging, with something in writing explaining what it is.

What counts as a controlled substance?

Narcotics and psychotropics as each country defines them, which typically catches opioids, benzodiazepines, and stimulant medicines for attention disorders. These almost never come out of a skin clinic, so this is usually a question about medicine you arrived with rather than medicine you are leaving with. If it applies to you, note that Korea requires ministry permission to bring such medicines in, and the application is made weeks before travel rather than on the day.

What should I ask the clinic for?

The prescription itself, the product names written down, and where possible an English-language certificate, which is a defined item on the national fee schedule rather than a favour. A border officer, and later your own doctor, both do better with a document than with a bag of unlabelled boxes. Our page on medical records covers what you are entitled to and what it costs.

Does Korea restrict what I take out?

For ordinary personal quantities of medicine and cosmetics, this is not usually where the friction is. The Korea Customs Service publishes guidance on departure procedures and declarable items, and it is worth a look if you are carrying anything unusual in volume. The far more common problem is arriving home with more than the destination allows.

Visit Guide · also called 서울, Seoul, South Korea

Taking medicine and skincare home from South Korea

Leaving Korea is rarely the problem. The rule that decides is where you land, and Japan allows 24 cosmetics per item, or 120 if under 60 mL.

Author: Aesthetics Korea Editorial Team
Medical review: Not required
Published: 19 September 2026
Last updated: 5 October 2026
Last reviewed: —6 min read

Short answer

The rule that decides is almost never Korea's, it is the one at the airport where you land, and it is set by your destination's health authority rather than by the clinic that prescribed anything. Japan is the strictest case for this audience and also the clearest: one month of prescription medicine, two months of ordinary medicine, 24 pieces of anything for external use, and 24 cosmetics per item at standard size, rising to 120 per item for anything of 60 mL or less. Above those figures an import certificate has to be obtained before you travel, and controlled substances sit on a separate track everywhere.

Key facts

Which rule governs: Your destination's import rule, not Korea's export rule. Korea rarely stops an ordinary personal quantity on the way out
Japan, prescription medicine: Up to one month's supply without an import certificate
Japan, ordinary medicine: Up to two months' supply of drugs and quasi-drugs, and up to four months of vitamins
Japan, external use and cosmetics: Up to 24 pieces of external-use items, and up to 24 pieces per item of standard-size cosmetics
The exception most people miss: Cosmetics of 60 g or 60 mL or less count to a separate allowance of 120 pieces per item, and a single-use sachet counts as one piece
Above those limits: An import certificate applied for before departure, which takes time to obtain and cannot be arranged at the airport
Controlled substances: A separate procedure in both directions. Korea requires ministry permission to bring narcotic medicines in, applied for weeks ahead

The rule that actually governs

People ask this question the wrong way round. They ask what Korea will let them take out, when the authority that decides is the one at the other end of the flight.

Korea is not generally where an ordinary personal quantity of medicine or skincare runs into trouble. Your own country's health regulator is, because importing medicine is a regulated act in most places and the traveller doing it is still an importer, just a small one.

So the practical question is not "can I take this out of Seoul". It is "how much of this may I bring into the place I live", and that answer changes by passport.

Japan, worked through in full

Japan is worth doing properly, both because it is the largest source of visitors to Korean clinics after China and because its health ministry publishes exact figures rather than a principle.

Without any import certificate, for personal use:

Prescription drugs. Up to one month's supply.
Drugs and quasi-drugs. Up to two months' supply.
Vitamins. Up to four months' supply.
External use items. Up to 24 pieces.
Cosmetics, standard size. Up to 24 pieces per item.
Cosmetics of 60 g or 60 mL or less. Up to 120 pieces per item, with a single-use sachet counted as one piece.
Medical devices. One set, for home use.

Two of those deserve a second read.

Cosmetics are where people worry unnecessarily, because the figure that circulates is 24 and the second bracket rarely travels with it. Small products, which is most of what a haul consists of, have an allowance five times larger. If the volume on the label is 60 mL or under, 120 per item is the number that applies.

Note the wording either way: the cap is per item, not per suitcase, and the ministry is explicit that an item means the product type rather than the category. Shampoo and treatment each carry their own count. Twenty-five of one standard-size serum is over; a spread of different products is not.

External use at 24 pieces is where a clinic's medicated creams and ointments land, which matters after any procedure that sends you home with topicals.

Above these figures you need an import certificate, applied for before you travel. It is a document with a lead time, not a form you fill in at the airport, so it only helps people who thought about it in advance.

Everywhere else

Other destinations use the same shape with different numbers, so the reliable move is to read your own regulator rather than a travel article.

For Australia, the Therapeutic Goods Administration publishes the traveller's exemption covering quantity, documentation and packaging. For most other countries the equivalent body is the national medicines or therapeutic goods regulator, and it is usually a single page on their site.

Whatever the figure turns out to be, three habits travel well. Keep things in original packaging with the dispensing label attached. Carry the prescription or a letter. Do not carry medicine for anybody else.

Controlled substances, both directions

This is a different category with a different process, and it rarely touches a skin clinic visit.

Narcotic and psychotropic medicines, which typically means opioids, benzodiazepines and stimulant medicines for attention disorders, are controlled almost everywhere and move only with paperwork. Korea requires ministry permission to bring such medicines into the country for personal treatment, and that application is made weeks ahead rather than on the day of the flight.

The reason to mention it on a page about going home is that the person affected is usually carrying their own regular medication into Korea, not leaving with something new.

What to ask the clinic for

Everything above works better with documents, and documents are easiest to get while you are still standing in the clinic.

Ask for the prescription itself, the product names written down rather than described, and where you can, an English-language certificate. That last one is a defined item on Korea's national fee schedule with its own ceiling rather than a favour you are requesting, and our page on your medical records and what they cost covers how that works.

A border officer reading a document reaches a decision quickly. A border officer looking at unlabelled boxes reaches a slower one.

The bottom line

Leaving Korea is seldom the constraint. Arriving home can be, and the numbers that bind are published by your own regulator.

For Japan the figures are specific enough to plan against, and the one to remember is 24 pieces per item of cosmetics, because that is the limit a good shopping day in Seoul actually reaches.

Frequently asked questions

How much Korean skincare can I bring into Japan?: More than the figure usually quoted. Standard-size cosmetics are capped at 24 pieces per item, but anything of 60 g or 60 mL or less has its own allowance of 120 pieces per item, and a single-use sachet counts as one piece. So sheet masks and sample-size serums sit in the larger bracket. Note "per item" rather than in total: the ministry defines an item as the product type, meaning shampoo and treatment each get their own count. External-use medicines, where a clinic's medicated creams land, are capped at 24 pieces.
Do I need a certificate for a prescription from a Korean clinic?: For Japan, not if it is a month's supply or less, which covers the usual course after a skin treatment. Other destinations set their own figure, and Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration publishes the exemption that applies there. The pattern is the same everywhere: an ordinary personal quantity, in its original packaging, with something in writing explaining what it is.
What counts as a controlled substance?: Narcotics and psychotropics as each country defines them, which typically catches opioids, benzodiazepines, and stimulant medicines for attention disorders. These almost never come out of a skin clinic, so this is usually a question about medicine you arrived with rather than medicine you are leaving with. If it applies to you, note that Korea requires ministry permission to bring such medicines in, and the application is made weeks before travel rather than on the day.
What should I ask the clinic for?: The prescription itself, the product names written down, and where possible an English-language certificate, which is a defined item on the national fee schedule rather than a favour. A border officer, and later your own doctor, both do better with a document than with a bag of unlabelled boxes. Our page on medical records covers what you are entitled to and what it costs.
Does Korea restrict what I take out?: For ordinary personal quantities of medicine and cosmetics, this is not usually where the friction is. The Korea Customs Service publishes guidance on departure procedures and declarable items, and it is worth a look if you are carrying anything unusual in volume. The far more common problem is arriving home with more than the destination allows.

Medical evidence

Regulatory document2025
Questions and answers on import procedures for pharmaceuticals and related products
Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Pharmaceutical Safety Division, administrative notice of 30 June 2025. Q51 sets the medicine quantities: one month's supply for prescription drugs and for designated poisonous and powerful drugs, two months for other medicines, and 24 pieces for external-use preparations, excluding prescription drugs, troches, sublingual, buccal and gum preparations and suppositories. Q54 sets the cosmetics quantities: 24 pieces per item at standard retail size, and 120 pieces per item where the volume is 60 g or 60 mL or less, with a single-dose package counted as one piece. An item is defined as the product type, such as shampoo or treatment, rather than the category.
Regulatory document2026
Quantities of medicines importable for personal use
Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare guidance on personal imports. Drugs and quasi-drugs up to two months' supply; prescription drugs up to one month's supply; vitamins up to four months' supply; external use items up to 24 pieces; cosmetics up to 24 pieces per item; medical devices one set for home use. These quantities require no import licence or special procedure.

Sources

Listed in the order they are used. Source class follows the methodology.

1.Questions and answers on import procedures for pharmaceuticals and related products, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan — Pharmaceutical Safety DivisionGovernment / public bodyaccessed 2026-10-05Notice of 30 June 2025, in Japanese. The authority for every figure on this page; read Q51 for medicines and Q54 for cosmetics.
2.Quantities of medicines importable for personal use, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, JapanGovernment / public bodyaccessed 2026-10-05The ministry's older English summary. Consistent on the headline quantities, but it omits the 60 mL bracket for cosmetics, which is why the Japanese notice above is cited first.
3.Travelling with medicines and medical devices, Therapeutic Goods Administration, AustraliaGovernment / public bodyaccessed 2026-09-19Australia's traveller's exemption, including quantity and documentation. Cited as the authority to check rather than quoted here.
4.Manual on Permit to Bring in Narcotics to Korea, Ministry of Food and Drug SafetyGovernment / public bodyaccessed 2026-09-19The Korean permit procedure for narcotic medicines carried in for personal treatment.
5.Customs procedure and declarable items upon departure, Korea Customs ServiceGovernment / public bodyaccessed 2026-09-19The Korean side, under Individuals then Travellers.