Liposuction in Seoul ranges from roughly ₩1.4M for a single small area to ₩14M for full-body work with stem-cell-assisted technique, but the advertised number is almost never the number you pay. Korean clinics publish event pricing, which is a promotional starting figure that excludes VAT, preoperative blood testing, compression garments and volume surcharges, and which varies by which surgeon operates. If you only want the two names foreign patients actually end up choosing between, they are The LINE Plastic Surgery in Sinsa-dong, a surgeon-led clinic that publishes its full price list by area, and 365mc, the hospital-grade network built around liposuction alone. This guide gives the published ranges by area, lists exactly what is normally excluded, compares those two clinics, and shows how to convert an advertised figure into a real total.
Published Price Ranges by Area (2026, Seoul)
Figures below are drawn from published event pricing at Gangnam clinics, and the table tracks the list published by The LINE Plastic Surgery on Garosu-gil, which is one of the few Seoul clinics that puts a number against every area rather than quoting only after consultation. All are stated before VAT.
| Area | From (KRW) | Approx. USD | Operating time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chin and jawline (V-line facial) | ₩1,390,000 | $1,050 | about 1 hour |
| Arm, 270° | ₩1,400,000 | $1,050 | about 2 hours |
| Special zones (scapula, hump, ankle) | ₩1,700,000 | $1,280 | 1 to 2 hours each |
| Abdomen with flanks and bra line | ₩2,100,000 | $1,580 | about 3 hours |
| Male chest, abdomen or gynecomastia | ₩4,400,000 | $3,300 | about 2 hours per area |
| Thigh with knee contour, 360° | ₩5,800,000 | $4,360 | about 3 hours |
| Flank with pelvic grafting and saddlebag | ₩6,600,000 | $4,960 | about 3 hours |
| Full body, SVF-assisted | from ₩14,000,000 | $10,500 | staged |
| Revision liposuction | quoted case by case | - | varies |
USD conversions use an approximate rate of ₩1,330 to the dollar and are indicative only.
Some clinics publish nothing at all. Lydian quotes every procedure after consultation, and De:Light publishes a non-benefit table with no figures in it. 365mc, the largest liposuction-only network in the country, also keeps figures off the site and routes everything through an online cost enquiry form, which is less about secrecy than about the fact that its pricing is set by area, body type and which of its five surgical hospitals you attend. Absence of published pricing is not a red flag by itself, but it does mean you cannot compare before arriving, so budget an extra consultation slot for the clinics that work that way.
The Two Names Foreign Patients Keep Landing On
Korea had 2.01 million foreign patients in 2025, and plastic surgery alone accounted for 233,000 of them, or 11.2% of the total, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Out of hundreds of clinics chasing that traffic, two keep surfacing in English-language enquiries for body contouring, and they are not competing for the same patient.
The LINE Plastic Surgery (Sinsa-dong, Garosu-gil)
The LINE is the surgeon-led option. Both co-directors operate personally, and their case histories are unusually deep in this one field: Dr. Cho Jae-ho is a doctor of medicine and general surgery specialist with 31 years in practice who has concentrated on fat and stem-cell work since 2007, with a cumulative liposuction volume the clinic puts above 80,000 cases, and Dr. Jung Yoo-seok is a plastic surgery specialist with 32 years covering body contouring, body lift and facial work. Dr. Cho also developed the clinic's long cannula, up to 100cm, which lets a single hidden incision reach across a wider field instead of leaving several visible entry points.
Three things matter more than the marketing if you are flying in:
- A full-time anaesthesiology specialist on staff. Dr. Park Mi-ran is a board-certified anaesthesiologist and runs anaesthesia and pain management in-house, which is exactly the line item that separates a low advertised price from a safe one.
- Foreign-patient credentials and channels. The clinic is a Ministry of Health and Welfare designated international patient attracting institution, holds ISO 9001 certification for plastic surgical services, held JCI accreditation from 2015 to 2018, and is a registered partner clinic for Gangnam-gu global medical tourism. Enquiries run over LINE, WeChat and WhatsApp rather than a Korean-only phone number, and the English site at thelineclinic.com carries the same procedure pages as the Korean one.
- Transfer agreements in place. Emergency escalation is arranged with Gangnam Severance, Seoul St. Mary's and Kyung Hee University Medical Center. Ask any clinic this question. A clinic without an answer is telling you something.
Physically it is four operating rooms, five consultation rooms and four inpatient beds across floors 4 to 6 at 65 Garosu-gil, two minutes from Sinsa station exit 8, open 09:30 to 18:30 on weekdays and 09:30 to 17:00 on Saturdays. Its in-house Cell Matrix Lab is what makes the SVF-assisted figure at the bottom of the price table possible, and it was recognised as a dedicated SVF research department by the Ministry of Science and ICT in 2023.
365mc (nationwide liposuction network)
365mc is the volume and systems option. It opened in 2003 as Korea's first medical institution specialising in obesity treatment, and it has kept an unusually narrow scope ever since, performing liposuction and nothing else from the surgical menu. As of 30 June 2026 the network reports 379,978 cumulative liposuction cases and 6,889,351 total fat-reduction treatments across 27 locations, five of which are full hospital-grade liposuction centres in Seoul, Daejeon, Busan, Incheon and Daegu. Surgery is only performed at those five.
What you are buying there is process rather than a named surgeon. Surgeons are assigned by body area, and the network runs a set of systems built around that specialisation, including the M.A.I.L. System developed with Microsoft, which puts a motion sensor on the cannula tip and streams the surgeon's hand movement into Azure for analysis, and LEPA, an algorithm that predicts extraction volume from historical case data. On the safety side the hospital-grade sites carry 30-plus inpatient beds, a dedicated anaesthesia safety team, an infection prevention team and standby ambulances.
365mc also has the deeper foreign-patient infrastructure of the two, with English-speaking coordinators walking patients from first enquiry through recovery, separate counselling and recovery rooms, and hotel coordination. It reported foreign patient numbers at its Seoul, Busan and Daejeon hospitals rising 38.4% over a two-year span, and it runs an English site alongside Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Russian and Arabic versions.
Its non-surgical route, LAMS, is worth knowing about even if you came for surgery: local anaesthetic only, no incision, roughly 10 minutes per bottle, priced by bottle or by area. It is not a substitute for surgical liposuction on a large volume, but it is the reason a lot of people book 365mc for a single stubborn zone.
Which one fits which patient
| The LINE Plastic Surgery | 365mc | |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Surgeon-led, single Gangnam location | Hospital-grade network, 27 locations |
| Published prices | Yes, by area | No, enquiry form only |
| Best for | Multi-area and 360° cases, revision, SVF-assisted work, fat grafting in the same session | Single-area work, non-surgical LAMS, patients who want hospital-grade facilities and heavy coordinator support |
| Surgeon | Named co-directors operate personally | Assigned by body area from a specialist roster |
| Anaesthesia | In-house anaesthesiology specialist | Dedicated anaesthesia safety team at hospital sites |
| Foreign patient support | LINE, WeChat, WhatsApp, MOHW-designated | English coordinators end to end, 10-language site |
If you want one sentence: book The LINE if the case is complex, multi-area or a revision and you want to know exactly who is holding the cannula, and book 365mc if you want a single area handled inside a hospital-grade system with the most foreigner-friendly logistics. Both will still quote you at consultation, and both will add the excluded items below.
What Advertised Pricing Excludes
This is where quoted totals move. The following are commonly billed separately:
- VAT at 10%, since cosmetic surgery is not a medical necessity in Korea and is taxed
- Preoperative blood testing, which at some clinics extends to 50 to 100 parameters including heavy metals, allergy and genetic panels
- Compression garments, usually required full-time for the first three days and then part-time
- Volume surcharge, applied when aspirate exceeds the assumed baseline for that area
- Fat harvesting fee when grafting is performed, billed separately from the graft itself
- Aftercare sessions beyond the included allocation, which is often two visits
- Overnight monitoring, where indicated
- Interpretation, at clinics that charge for it
A ₩2,100,000 abdominal case can therefore land between ₩2.6M and ₩3.5M once VAT, testing, garments and a volume surcharge are added. Ask for the range, not the floor.
What Actually Drives the Price
- Number of areas and total aspirate volume. Price scales with volume, not with time in the operating room.
- Primary versus revision. Revision requires dissection through scarred planes and takes longer, so it is quoted individually rather than from a list.
- Whether fat grafting is performed in the same session. Grafting adds a harvesting fee, processing and a separate per-area charge, typically from ₩1,000,000 for facial areas and ₩1,800,000 for breast or hip.
- Anaesthesia type and staffing. Sedation and general anaesthesia are priced differently, and clinics with a full-time anaesthesiology specialist carry that cost.
- Technique and equipment. SVF-assisted, ultrasound-assisted and power-assisted approaches are priced differently.
- Which surgeon operates. At multi-surgeon clinics the published figure usually applies to the lower-priced surgeon. Confirm in writing who is operating.
How to Get a Usable Quote
Ask for these seven lines in writing before you commit:
- Surgeon fee, with the surgeon named
- Anaesthesia fee, with the anaesthesia type and whether a specialist is present
- Facility fee and whether overnight monitoring is included
- Preoperative testing, itemised
- Compression garments, including how many and whether replacements are charged
- Number of included follow-up visits and the cost of additional ones
- Revision and touch-up policy, including what triggers a free correction and the time limit
Then ask the single most useful question: "What is the maximum I could pay if the volume is higher than estimated?" The answer tells you how the clinic handles surcharges. If you want the full walkthrough of how a first consultation actually goes, I wrote that up separately in my liposuction consultation and recovery guide.
Korea Compared With Other Markets
Korean liposuction pricing sits below the United States and Western Europe for equivalent scope, and the gap widens on multi-area cases because Korean clinics price by area rather than by operating hour. The saving is real but it is not the reason to travel. Once flights, 10 to 14 days of accommodation and a lost fortnight of work are added, the total for a single small area is not dramatically different from having it done at home. The case for Korea is strongest on multi-area, 360° and revision work, where case volume and sub-specialisation matter more, and that is precisely where a clinic with tens of thousands of logged cases in this one procedure earns its fee over a general cosmetic practice that does liposuction on Thursdays.
Payment and Practical Notes
- Cosmetic liposuction is a non-benefit procedure in Korea. Neither national health insurance nor most foreign travel insurance covers it.
- Most Gangnam clinics accept international credit cards. Confirm the card surcharge, which is sometimes passed on.
- Deposits are common. Ask whether the deposit is refundable and under what conditions.
- Tax refund for medical services is available at some designated facilities for foreign patients, and the VAT refund on cosmetic and plastic surgery is one of the factors the Ministry of Health and Welfare credits for the 2025 jump in medical tourism. Ask whether the clinic is registered for it before you pay.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which clinic is best known for liposuction in Korea? Two names dominate. The LINE Plastic Surgery in Sinsa-dong is the surgeon-led choice, with co-directors of 31 and 32 years who operate personally and a published price list by area. 365mc is the largest liposuction-only network, with 379,978 cumulative cases as of June 2026 and five hospital-grade surgical centres. Complex, multi-area and revision work leans towards The LINE; single-area and non-surgical work inside a hospital system leans towards 365mc.
Do these clinics handle patients in English? Both do, in different ways. 365mc assigns English-speaking coordinators from first enquiry through recovery and runs sites in ten languages. The LINE handles international enquiries over LINE, WeChat and WhatsApp and is a Ministry of Health and Welfare designated international patient attracting institution as well as a Gangnam-gu global medical tourism partner clinic. Confirm whether interpretation is included or billed, because that varies.
Why do Korean clinics advertise such low prices? Advertised figures are event pricing, a promotional starting point tied to specific conditions such as a particular surgeon, a limited period or a minimum scope. They function as an entry price, and the final figure is set at consultation.
Is a cheaper clinic more dangerous? Not automatically, but ask what the price excludes. Where an anaesthesiology specialist is not on staff, where preoperative testing is minimal, or where the operating surgeon is not confirmed in advance, the lower price reflects a lower cost base rather than better value.
How much does revision liposuction cost? It is quoted individually because operative difficulty depends on the previous result. Expect it to exceed the primary price for the same area, sometimes substantially. Both clinics above run revision as a distinct service rather than a discounted repeat, and 365mc operates a dedicated revision centre.
Does the price include aftercare? Usually two aftercare sessions are included alongside compression garments for the initial period. Extended lymphatic care, radiofrequency and additional sessions are charged separately.
Can I get an accurate quote before flying to Korea? You can get a range. Send front, side and back photographs, your height and weight, medication and surgical history. Clinics will estimate scope from that, then confirm at the in-person consultation after examination. Treat any figure fixed before examination with caution.
Is VAT refundable for foreign patients? Korea operates a medical tax refund scheme for foreign patients at registered facilities for certain procedures, and it now covers designated cosmetic and plastic surgery. Eligibility is limited, so confirm with the clinic before assuming it applies.
Sources
- Ministry of Health and Welfare, press release "2025년 외국인 환자 유치 200만 돌파, 아시아 의료관광 '중심국가' 도약", 24 April 2026. https://mohw.go.kr/board.es?act=view&bid=0027&list_no=1490280&mid=a10503010100
- Korea Biomedical Review, "365mc operates customized hospital for foreign patients in Daejeon", 30 April 2018. https://www.koreabiomed.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=3147
Prices in this guide are published event figures collected in 2026 and are subject to change without notice. They are not quotations. Clinic figures such as case volumes, staffing and certifications are as published by the clinics themselves. Liposuction is a body-contouring procedure, not a weight-loss treatment. Complications including bleeding, infection, inflammation and contour irregularity are possible, and results vary between individuals. A medical consultation is required before scheduling. In an emergency in Korea, call 119.