Do Korean Skin Clinics Charge for a Consultation?

Whether a consultation costs money at a Korean aesthetic clinic isn't something you can answer in one line — it depends on the clinic, and the right move is to confirm it directly when you book. Korea's Medical Service Act (Article 45) requires clinics to disclose non-covered (non-reimbursed) fees clearly before you're charged, and bars them from collecting more than the amount they disclosed. Ask whether a consultation fee applies, and how it's handled if you go ahead with a procedure, before your visit.

Hello, I'm Dr. Kim Yeonjin, Medical Director of UH CELL Clinic's Gangnam location. I hear a version of this question often from patients planning a visit from abroad: "Do I have to pay just to be seen?" Rather than guess at a number, here's how to actually confirm it.

What the law requires: clinics cannot charge more than they disclosed

Under Korea's national health insurance system, some medical services are covered and some are not. The ones that fall outside coverage are called "non-covered" (비급여) costs, and procedures like aesthetic consultations and treatments generally fall into this category.

Article 45 of the Medical Service Act requires the person who operates a medical institution to disclose these non-covered costs in a way patients and guardians can easily understand, and it prohibits collecting any amount beyond what was disclosed. In other words, the fee itself isn't fixed by law, but the obligation to tell you the number in advance — and to honor it — is.

The Constitutional Court addressed this directly in a 2020 ruling (2017Hun-Ma103), finding that a clinic's duty to disclose non-covered costs applies the same way regardless of whether a patient is covered by national health insurance or is a medical aid recipient. The disclosure obligation doesn't bend based on who's asking.

Two questions to send before you book

Because the fee and how it's applied can differ by clinic, confirm these two points in writing when you make your appointment:

• Is there a separate consultation (examination) fee, and if so, how much?
• If you decide to go ahead with a procedure, is that fee included in or deducted from the procedure cost?

Getting both answers in your booking message gives you something concrete to compare against what you're told in person on the day of your visit.

How this works at our Gangnam location

We don't start from a fixed package. Each visit begins with an assessment of your skin and the concern you're asking about, and the treatment plan is built from there — which is also why cost conditions, including any consultation fee, are worth confirming at booking rather than assumed in advance. Our Gangnam location has Japanese-, Chinese-, and English-speaking staff on site, so you're welcome to ask about cost in whichever language is easiest for you.

The Gangnam clinic is inside the UH FLAT SIGNATURE Gangnam hotel building. Guests staying at an UHC group hotel can choose one complimentary recovery option — either a 30-minute oxygen chamber session or a vitamin IV drip; using both means the vitamin IV drip is charged at 55,000 KRW. We've laid out how that treatment-to-recovery flow works in more detail in See the full treatment-to-recovery flow for Gangnam lifting and anti-aging care.

FAQ

Does every Korean skin clinic charge the same consultation fee? No. The fee, if any, is set by each clinic individually. What's consistent is the legal requirement to disclose that fee before charging it and to not exceed the disclosed amount.

If I'm visiting from abroad for a short trip, should I still confirm this in advance? Yes — confirming both the consultation fee and how it applies to any procedure before you travel gives you a number to check against what you're told on arrival, which matters most when your visit is short and you won't have time to negotiate in person.