Eyelid surgery clinics in Seoul: five compared

Eyelid surgery comes first in both of the counts of cosmetic operations in Korea on our procedures page, although the two use different categories and methods. This page compares five Seoul clinics that offer it. For each one it sets out what the clinic says about itself, under the same headings, and then what three public listings say about it. Those listings are kept by public bodies and a professional society, although HIRA’s staffing figures are themselves reported by each clinic.

How the five were chosen and checked

The Swan comes first. The other four came up on the first page of English search results for “korean eye surgery”, “eyelid surgery clinic seoul”, “best eyelid surgery korea” and “double eyelid surgery seoul clinic”, after leaving out booking agencies, ranking sites and one clinic outside Seoul, and follow in alphabetical order. All five are registered as clinics (의원) rather than hospitals.

Each was then looked up in three public listings, all on 30 September 2026:

• The Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) publishes a hospital information service listing each institution’s doctors and specialists by specialty. HIRA notes that the figures are what the institution has reported, and that they change as staff change.
• The Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons has a specialist search by name. Absence from it does not by itself show a lack of certification, since the listing probably reflects society membership; a matching entry shows that the society lists that surgeon at that clinic.
• The medicalkorea registry, run by the Korea Health Industry Development Institute, shows whether a clinic is registered to attract foreign patients. Registration requires at least one specialist for each department the clinic offers and malpractice insurance. All five are registered, with status active. None is on the institute’s separate, much shorter list of evaluation-certified institutions.

Eyelid surgery takes in a number of distinct procedures. Our article on double eyelid surgery sets out the buried-suture, partial-incision and incisional techniques, and explains why ptosis correction and epicanthoplasty are separate operations that frequently come as part of the same package. Read it before you compare clinics, since the clinics listed below use different words to describe the same operations. It also helps to know what patients complain about: in a seven-year analysis of complaints at one hospital in Beijing, asymmetry was the most common reason, at 41.7 per cent of complaints after primary double eyelid surgery and 48.0 per cent after revision. Those figures are shares of complaints, not rates of complication.

The Swan Plastic Surgery

Who operates. The Swan (더스완성형외과의원) is on the fourth floor of the Suji Building, 7 Teheran-ro 51-gil, in Yeoksam-dong, near exit 5 of Seolleung Station. It describes itself as a single-surgeon eye-surgery clinic. Its surgeon, Dr Hwang Sung-ho, is described as a plastic surgery specialist who trained at Pusan National University and at Severance, and who has practised since 2004. The doctor page says consultation, design, the operation, suturing and aftercare are all done by Dr Hwang, with no proxy surgeon.

What it says it does. Buried-suture, partial-incision and incisional double eyelid surgery; ptosis correction by a non-incisional method, by incisional levator advancement or by frontalis suspension, with the ptosis page saying the choice depends on measured levator function and lid height (MRD1); epicanthoplasty, lateral canthoplasty and lowering the outer corner; lower blepharoplasty and fat repositioning. The doctor page names revision as the clinic’s main focus: double eyelid and ptosis revision, reversing canthoplasty scars, and undoing buried sutures. The revision page recommends waiting six months to a year after the first operation. Follow-up checks are listed at one week, one month and three months, with an open return visit at one year.

Price. Among the five, The Swan is the only one that makes eyelid prices public. Its non-covered fee page, last updated on 5 June 2025, lists ranges covering VAT, materials and medication:

There is no line for first-time incisional double eyelid surgery. The page says the individual price is set after a preliminary talk with a counsellor and a consultation of at least 30 minutes with Dr Hwang. Under the Medical Service Act, a clinic may not charge more than the non-covered fees it has posted.

Patients from abroad. The site is in Korean, with one English paragraph on the international patients page, and the pages we read name no English-speaking coordinator or interpreter. Contact is by phone, KakaoTalk, Naver TalkTalk or an online form. The page says patients living abroad and foreigners living in Korea can both be seen.

Public records. HIRA lists one doctor, a plastic surgery specialist. The specialist society’s directory lists Dr Hwang at The Swan. Foreign-patient registration is active; the clinic’s own page gives the registration number and a validity period of 17 January 2025 to 16 January 2028.

AHNSUNGMIN Plastic Surgery

Who operates. AHNSUNGMIN (안성민성형외과의원) is the only one of the five outside Gangnam: it is at 4 Olympic-ro 12-gil in Jamsil, Songpa-gu, two minutes from exit 4 of Jamsilsaenae Station on Line 2. It says it has been a dedicated eye-surgery clinic since 2014, and that every consultation, operation and follow-up is done by its one surgeon, Dr Ahn Sung-min, a board-certified plastic surgeon. It also says it does no more than two operations a day.

What it says it does. Buried-suture and incisional double eyelid surgery, ptosis correction, epicanthoplasty, lateral canthoplasty, upper eyelid fat repositioning, correction of a crease that is too high, lower blepharoplasty and ectropion correction. It calls revision one of Dr Ahn’s primary specialties. Its ptosis page says every ptosis correction is done under local anaesthesia.

Price. Not published.

Patients from abroad. There is an English WhatsApp line, plus an online photo assessment that happens before travel. According to the site, the majority of patients stay for seven to ten days so that surgery, recovery and stitch removal can take place. No named coordinators or other languages appear.

Public records. HIRA lists one doctor, a plastic surgery specialist. The directory lists Dr Ahn at the clinic. Foreign-patient registration is active.

Banobagi Plastic Surgery

Who operates. Banobagi (바노바기성형외과의원) occupies a building at 517 Nonhyeon-ro in Yeoksam-dong, about 100 metres from exit 6 of Yeoksam Station. Its history page says it opened in 2000 and took the Banobagi name in 2007. Its eye page names two eye surgeons, Dr Kwon Heeyeon and Dr Kim Jinhyun, both described as board-certified plastic surgeons, and says every eye procedure is done by dedicated oculoplastic surgeons.

What it says it does. Incisional and non-incisional double eyelid surgery, the latter through five to seven small holes with a double-knot fixation; ptosis correction; epicanthoplasty; eyelid revision, including lowering a crease that is too high; fat repositioning and upper and lower blepharoplasty.

Price. Not published on the English site, and its Korean non-covered fee page lists no eyelid operations.

Patients from abroad. A dedicated multilingual coordinator for each patient, help with accommodation and transport, separate sites in Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese, Indonesian and Japanese, and contact through WhatsApp or email. It says it runs a surgeon’s real-name system.

Public records. HIRA lists 16 doctors: nine plastic surgery specialists, three anaesthesiology specialists and one general surgery specialist, the largest team of the five. The directory lists Dr Kwon at Banobagi; it lists Dr Kim Jinhyun with no clinic, so that link could not be confirmed there. Foreign-patient registration is active, and the clinic’s history dates it to 2009.

JW Plastic Surgery

Who operates. JW (제이더블유(JW)정원성형외과의원) occupies the third to seventh floors of 553 Samseong-ro, 150 metres from exit 6 of Samseong Jungang Station on Line 9. It is open Monday to Friday, 10:00 to 17:30. Its surgeons page names two eye surgeons, Dr Hong Lim Choi and Dr Yeon Jun Kim, both described as board-certified plastic surgeons specialising in eyes. The clinic says the surgeon you see at consultation performs the operation from start to finish.

What it says it does. Incisional, non-incisional and partial-incision double eyelid surgery; incisional ptosis correction and a non-incisional method through the inside of the lid; epicanthoplasty and lateral canthoplasty; revision, at least six months after the previous operation; upper and lower blepharoplasty and a sub-brow lift.

Price. Not published.

Patients from abroad. Translation in English, Chinese, Russian and French, and the clinic says all its doctors speak English. One consultant from first contact to last check-up, airport transfers, and named English contacts. It says it has cameras in each operating room.

Public records. HIRA lists six doctors: five plastic surgery specialists and one anaesthesiology specialist. The directory lists both eye surgeons at JW. Foreign-patient registration is active.

THE PLUS Plastic Surgery

Who operates. THE PLUS (더플러스성형외과의원) is on the third and fourth floors of 9 Garosu-gil in Sinsa-dong, about 250 metres from exit 8 of Sinsa Station on Line 3. It opens on weekdays until 19:00 and on Saturdays until 17:00. Its primary eye surgeon is Dr Kim Taek-kyun, described as a board-certified plastic surgeon and an author of plastic surgery textbooks.

What it says it does. Incisional and non-incisional double eyelid surgery, incisional and non-incisional ptosis correction, epicanthoplasty, and upper and lower blepharoplasty. We found no page on eyelid revision.

Price. Not published.

Patients from abroad. English service from consultation to aftercare, with English-speaking doctors or a translator where the doctor does not speak English, an online consultation with a doctor before travel, and a WhatsApp line. The double eyelid page also exists in German.

Public records. HIRA lists two doctors, both plastic surgery specialists. The directory lists Dr Kim at the clinic. Foreign-patient registration is active.

Side by side

What none of the websites can tell you

Four of the five do not make a price public, and the single one that does provides no number for incisional surgery. Before you pay a deposit to any clinic, obtain in writing which procedures are being quoted, listed individually, and what each one costs separately. Ask which surgeon will carry out the operation, and verify that name in the specialist directory yourself. The Swan, AHNSUNGMIN and JW each state publicly that the surgeon you consult is the one who operates, but no public record shows who performs an individual operation. Our piece on ghost surgery explains why that matters.

Ask how you will be anaesthetised. Korea’s operating-room CCTV rule applies to patients who are unconscious, and some eyelid surgery is done under local anaesthesia, including every ptosis correction at AHNSUNGMIN by its own account; is plastic surgery in Korea safe? sets out what the rule requires and how to ask for a recording. Ask, too, what a revision would cost and on what terms, given that asymmetry led the complaints in the study above.

How to choose a clinic in Korea explains these checks in more detail, while the checklist brings them together on one page that you can take to a consultation.