Facelift in Korea: what surgeons in Seoul actually charge

Facelift costs $5,000 to $13,000 in Seoul. Most foreign patients pay $7,000–$9,500 for a SMAS facelift at a Seoul clinic.

Prices verified: 2026-08-24
Medically reviewed: Pending — see editorial policy
Korean name: 안면거상

Facelift prices in Seoul

Facelift in Seoul, verified 2026-08-24. Ranges, not quotes.

Option	Price (USD)	Unit	Notes
Mini lift (lower face only)	$3,500–$6,000	per procedure	Shorter scar, shorter result
SMAS facelift	$5,000–$10,000	per procedure	The standard operation
Deep plane facelift	$8,000–$13,000	per procedure	Fewer surgeons do it. Ask case volume
Neck lift (added)	$2,000–$4,500	add-on	—
Brow or forehead lift (added)	$2,500–$5,000	add-on	—
Thread lift	$400–$1,200	per session	Not a facelift. Months, not years

Surgeon fee, anaesthesia and standard follow-up included. Ranges observed across Seoul clinics in August 2026.

Clinic-by-clinic prices are being collected. Clinics that decline to publish a price are not listed. Until then the table above is the market range we observed.

Facelift vs. the alternatives

Option	What it is	Best for	Seoul price
SMAS facelift	Surgical, deeper layer	Real sagging, 8–12 year result	$5,000–$10,000
Deep plane	Surgical, deepest release	Midface and jowls together	$8,000–$13,000
Thread lift	PDO threads	Mild laxity, no downtime, 6–18 months	$400–$1,200
Ultherapy	Focused ultrasound	Early laxity, no surgery	$400–$1,600

What the days after actually look like

Day 0–3Compression garment. Significant swelling and bruising. You will not want visitors.
Day 7–10Sutures out. Bruising turning yellow. Earliest most surgeons clear you to fly.
Week 3–4Presentable to strangers. Still tight and slightly numb.
Month 3Looks natural. Numbness around the ears may persist.
Month 12Final result. Scars keep fading through the first year.

Plan your trip around this. Clinics will book you whenever you ask; they will not reorganise your holiday for you.

Before and after

Before Sofwave — jawline and lower face, LUNN Dermatology Clinic (룬피부과의원) — **Sofwave — jawline and lower face**Both photographs taken on 10 June 2026 — the “after” is the same day, straight after treatmentEnergy devices and lasers keep working for months. A same-day photograph shows the immediate tissue response, not the collagen result, which arrives at two to three months. Read this as “what it looked like walking out”, not “what it settles at”.LUNN Dermatology Clinic (룬피부과의원)

After Sofwave — jawline and lower face, LUNN Dermatology Clinic (룬피부과의원) — **Sofwave — jawline and lower face**Both photographs taken on 10 June 2026 — the “after” is the same day, straight after treatmentEnergy devices and lasers keep working for months. A same-day photograph shows the immediate tissue response, not the collagen result, which arrives at two to three months. Read this as “what it looked like walking out”, not “what it settles at”.LUNN Dermatology Clinic (룬피부과의원)

Before Ulthera and Thermage — lower face, LUNN Dermatology Clinic (룬피부과의원) — **Ulthera and Thermage — lower face**Both photographs taken on 18 June 2026 — the “after” is the same day, straight after treatmentEnergy devices and lasers keep working for months. A same-day photograph shows the immediate tissue response, not the collagen result, which arrives at two to three months. Read this as “what it looked like walking out”, not “what it settles at”.LUNN Dermatology Clinic (룬피부과의원)Note: the two photographs were taken at slightly different distances, so the crop is not identical.

After Ulthera and Thermage — lower face, LUNN Dermatology Clinic (룬피부과의원) — **Ulthera and Thermage — lower face**Both photographs taken on 18 June 2026 — the “after” is the same day, straight after treatmentEnergy devices and lasers keep working for months. A same-day photograph shows the immediate tissue response, not the collagen result, which arrives at two to three months. Read this as “what it looked like walking out”, not “what it settles at”.LUNN Dermatology Clinic (룬피부과의원)Note: the two photographs were taken at slightly different distances, so the crop is not identical.

Before Onda — lower face and jawline, LUNN Dermatology Clinic (룬피부과의원) — **Onda — lower face and jawline**Both photographs taken on 21 April 2026 — the “after” is the same day, straight after treatmentEnergy devices and lasers keep working for months. A same-day photograph shows the immediate tissue response, not the collagen result, which arrives at two to three months. Read this as “what it looked like walking out”, not “what it settles at”.LUNN Dermatology Clinic (룬피부과의원)

After Onda — lower face and jawline, LUNN Dermatology Clinic (룬피부과의원) — **Onda — lower face and jawline**Both photographs taken on 21 April 2026 — the “after” is the same day, straight after treatmentEnergy devices and lasers keep working for months. A same-day photograph shows the immediate tissue response, not the collagen result, which arrives at two to three months. Read this as “what it looked like walking out”, not “what it settles at”.LUNN Dermatology Clinic (룬피부과의원)

Every pair here was photographed on one day. The “after” shot is from the same visit, minutes after the treatment — not weeks or months later. That is fine for filler, where the result is immediate, and close to meaningless for a lifting device or a laser, where the result arrives at two to three months. Each photograph below says which it is. We put this at the top rather than in a footnote because it changes how you should read every image on this page.

Supplied by LUNN Dermatology Clinic (룬피부과의원) and published on the clinic's own site. Shot under the same lighting and angle, close-cropped so no face is fully visible — where that was not true of a pair, it says so on the photograph. Not retouched: we resized both halves identically and did nothing else. Results vary between people; these are individual cases, not what you should expect.

Still being confirmed: whether each patient's written consent covers publication on a site outside Korea. The clinic published these on its own Korean site with consent, and we are collecting the addendum that names this site. Any photograph whose patient withdraws comes down the same day, backups included.

Who should not have this

You can stay under two weeks. Sutures come out at day seven to ten and you need at least one review after.
Your concern is skin quality rather than sagging. A facelift moves tissue; it does not improve texture or pigment.
You are under 40 with mild laxity. Ultherapy or a thread lift will serve you better and can be repeated.
You smoke and will not stop for two weeks either side. Skin-flap necrosis is the complication this causes and it is disfiguring.
A clinic proposes a facelift when you asked about a thread lift, without explaining why. Ask what specifically they see that threads will not fix.
You expect to look twenty years younger. A facelift repositions tissue. It does not reverse skin ageing.

Questions people actually ask

How much is a facelift in Korea?

$5,000–$13,000 depending on technique. A standard SMAS facelift runs $5,000–$10,000; deep plane starts around $8,000.

How long do I need to stay?

Two weeks minimum. Sutures come out at day seven to ten, and surgeons want to see you once more before you fly.

How long does it last?

Eight to twelve years for a SMAS lift. Ageing continues; the lift resets the starting point rather than stopping it.

Is a thread lift a cheaper alternative?

It is a different treatment, not a cheaper version. Threads reposition slightly and last six to eighteen months. If you have real sagging, threads will disappoint you.

Will the scars show?

They sit in front of and behind the ear and in the hairline. After a year they are usually hard to find. Ask to see the surgeon’s scar photos at twelve months, not at three.

Is Korea good for facelifts specifically?

Korean surgeons do enormous volume in contouring and eyelid work; facelift volume is lower than in the US, where the ageing patient population is larger. Ask any surgeon how many facelifts they do a year rather than how many operations.