How do Korean skin clinics quote prices, and what should I ask about a quote?

What Korean law requires clinics to show.

Article 45 of the Medical Service Act covers fees for care outside national health insurance. Clinics must make those fees easy for patients or their guardians to know, must post the fees they charge for certificates and other documents, and may not charge more than the amounts they notified or posted.

In practice you may see a printed fee list, a tablet or a sheet the staff show you during consultation. If you only hear a number spoken aloud, ask to see where it is written.

Questions that break a quote into parts.

We cannot tell you what any clinic charges for or how it groups its prices. What we can give you is the list of questions that turns one number into parts you can compare. Ask each of these, and ask for the answers in writing.

• Is there a consultation fee, and is it credited if I go ahead?
• What does each treatment cost per session, and how many sessions are planned?
• For an injectable, which product and what amount is this price based on?
• Are numbing cream, masks or other steps on the day part of this price?
• Which aftercare products are included, and which are optional?
• Are any medicines prescribed, and are they paid for separately at a pharmacy?
• Do follow-up or check visits carry a fee?
• What do documents cost: record copies, certificates, an English summary?
• Does anyone charge for interpretation, the clinic or an agency?

Ask for the cost of the whole plan.

UK NHS guidance advises understanding all the costs of a cosmetic procedure, including aftercare and any future procedures needed to maintain the look. For a traveller that also includes a later trip if the plan is a course, and care at home if something needs attention after you leave.

The CDC Yellow Book notes that travellers may need supplemental medical insurance, and NHS guidance on treatment abroad warns that travel insurance does not normally cover problems arising from surgery. Check your own policy before assuming a treatment complication is covered.

Agencies, payment and receipts.

If an agency or facilitator arranges your visit, ask whether you pay the clinic directly or pay the agency, and whether the agency’s fee is part of the quote. Medical Korea states that attracting foreign patients without registration is illegal and that unregistered brokers can be reported at kmediwatch.kr.

Before paying, confirm which cards the clinic accepts and whether any deposit is refundable if the doctor advises against treatment. After paying, ask for an itemised receipt that names each treatment. Your insurer and any doctor at home will read it later.

Before you agree to a quote

What travelers ask

The questions behind the search.

Bring these with you

Questions to ask at your consultation

Pick the questions you want to raise, then save them or open them in text translation.