DEKA in Italy builds ONDA, and DEKA certified Dr. Ko Young-wook as an ONDA LIFTING Expert Member — for teaching the technique to other physicians.
Before you pick a clinic
People fly to Seoul, walk into a clinic with the word dermatology on the sign, and never speak to a dermatologist. A counselor takes them through a menu, a doctor appears for a minute at the end, and the plan was decided before either of them sat down. That is the complaint we keep reading in English, and it is a fair one.
So here are three questions worth asking anywhere — including here.
In Korea any licensed doctor may open a skin clinic. The word on the door does not tell you whether the person holding the device completed a dermatology residency. Ask who will actually perform it — and ask before you pay, not after.
At many clinics a counselor takes you through the menu and the doctor appears for a minute at the end. If the quote arrives before the examination, you are being sold to rather than treated.
A plan that only adds is a sales sheet. A doctor who removes something from your list — or tells you to wait — is reading your skin rather than your budget.
Ask them of us too. If the answers here do not hold up, you should go somewhere else.
This red mark is not decoration. In Korea it belongs only to a doctor who finished the full dermatology training and passed the board examination held by the Korean Dermatological Association, and it is recognized by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. A clinic may put the word dermatology on its sign without anyone inside holding it.
Eleven years after entering medical school, at the earliest. Dr. Ko holds it.
Dr. Ko Young-wookMedical Director, AUVEL CLINIC
He has performed 3,000+ ONDA treatments, and the Italian manufacturer of the device certifies him to teach it. What that buys you in the room is narrower than it sounds and more useful: he can tell early which layer of your face actually moved, and he will say so even when the answer is that you do not need the treatment you came in for.
DEKA (E.L.E.N., Italy) — the company that makes ONDA — designates Dr. Ko an ONDA LIFTING Expert Member. The citation is not for volume: it is for passing the technique on and contributing to clinical training for other ONDA users.
He presented “Facial Contouring by ONDA Lifting” at #OnlyByDEKA in Bangkok in June 2025, held alongside the IMCAS Asia congress, to physicians from across the region.
Medical Aesthetic News ran his ONDA technique for the double chin as a two-part Hands-On feature in July 2025 — written for doctors, not for patients.
Board-certified dermatologist. Dermatology residency at Hanyang University Hospital, and a full member of four Korean dermatology societies.
If you don’t need it,
we won’t do it.
It is the least profitable sentence in this business, which is why so few clinics say it. A plan that only adds is a sales sheet. If a treatment would not change anything for you, or would work better six months from now, you will hear that instead — and you will still have flown here for a reason.
AUVEL CLINIC is a dermatology clinic in Sinsa, Gangnam. It is built around three things, and they are the reason the sentence above is possible.
The skin is analyzed before anything is recommended, and the root problem is treated without overtreatment — through the combination of procedure, aftercare and daily habits that actually fits you.
Pain control is handled professionally, consultations happen in private rooms rather than an open counter, and the follow-up continues after the treatment day.
No unnecessary procedures and no commercial pressure. The clinic is built for people who come back, which only works if nothing was oversold the first time.
Consultations happen in a closed room, not across an open counter.
Not a counselor with a price list. He looks at your skin, asks what you have already had done, and asks how long you are in Seoul.
He tells you what would help, what would not, and what can wait until your next trip. Expect the list to get shorter rather than longer.
The person who decided the depth and the energy is the person holding the handpiece.
What to avoid, when it settles, and whether anything needs a second session — before you fly home, not after.
You do not need to arrive having chosen a device. Most people who message us start from one of these.
Laxity happens in layers — skin, fat and the tissue underneath do not sag at the same rate. Which device suits you depends on which layer moved.
Lifting and tightening →Volume and contour are separate problems from laxity, and they are often treated in the wrong order.
Contouring →Melasma and sun damage behave differently under a laser. Treating them as one thing is what makes them return.
Pigmentation →Usually a course rather than a single visit — which is exactly why the plan should fit your trip.
Pores and texture →A skin condition before it is a cosmetic one. This is the part a dermatology residency is for.
Redness →This is the most common message we get, and it is a good place to start. Send a photo and tell him what bothers you.
Private 1:1 care →A plan that ignores your flight is not a plan. Tell him these three things and the order of treatments changes accordingly.
Open WhatsApp. The button below starts the chat with the first line already written.
Send what bothers you and your dates. A photo helps but is not required.
We reply with the times he is free. Nothing is charged until you are here.
English enquiries are handled on WhatsApp before you travel.
Ask Dr. Ko on WhatsAppThis page does not carry a price list on purpose. What a visit costs depends on what you turn out to need, and that is decided after he examines you rather than before.
The saving that matters on a trip like this is rarely the price of one session. It is the sessions you were sold and did not need. A shorter list from a doctor who examined you tends to cost less in total than a discounted long one from someone who did not. Ask us for figures on WhatsApp and you will get them for the treatments that actually apply to you.
Yes. He examines you, decides the plan and performs the treatment. That is the whole point of this page.
This is the clinic. The WhatsApp number above reaches AUVEL CLINIC directly, with no medical tourism broker in between.
No. Bring the problem. Arriving with a device already chosen is how people end up paying for the wrong one.
Send your dates before you fly and he will build the plan around them, including what is better left for a later trip.
Send a photo and a note about what bothers you. If something other than what you had in mind suits you better, he will say so.
Ask Dr. Ko on WhatsAppAUVEL CLINIC