Guides
The parts that are the same whatever you are having done: the sequence, the money, the paperwork, the timing and the language.
Start here: how treatment in Korea works
The order things happen in — enquiry, quote, deposit, arrival, procedure, follow-up — and the four decisions that change your total cost more than the procedure price does.
How to read a Korean price quote
Why two quotes for the same procedure can differ by half — consultation fees, VAT, anaesthesia, aftercare and the difference between an estimate and a settled bill.
Medical interpreters: when you need one
Where interpreting is already included, where it is not, what it costs to arrange separately, and the parts of a hospital visit where a phone app is not enough.
How many days to stay
Build the trip backwards from the follow-up schedule, not forwards from the procedure date. A planning template plus the questions that decide your last day.
Paying: cards, cash, deposits
How payment is actually staged in Korea, why foreign cards fail more often than people expect, and the one document to collect before you leave the building.
Do you need a medical visa?
Visa-free entry, K-ETA, the short-term medical visa and the long-term treatment visa — which question decides which one applies to you, and what the hospital has to provide.
VAT refund on cosmetic procedures
Why cosmetic procedures carry VAT when other treatment doesn't, how the foreign-patient refund scheme has worked, and how to find out whether it applies on your dates.
If something goes wrong
What to do in the first 48 hours, which documents decide everything later, and the formal routes — the hospital, the national mediation agency, and insurance — in the order to use them.
Travel vs medical insurance
Why ordinary travel insurance usually excludes the very trip you are planning, what complication cover is, and the questions to put to any insurer in writing.
Where to stay near hospital districts
Gangnam and Sinsa for cosmetic clinics, Sinchon and Jongno for major hospitals — how the districts differ for a recovering patient, and what to check in the listing.
Getting around after a procedure
The apps that work for visitors, when a taxi is worth it, and the small preparations that make day two after surgery manageable.
Korean pharmacies and prescriptions
Why the clinic sends you to a separate pharmacy, what you can buy without a prescription, and what to check before taking Korean medicine through customs at home.