GuidesPlan your trip
Your plastic surgery trip to Korea: a week-by-week plan
For a plastic surgery trip to Korea, start an online photo consultation 8 to 12 weeks ahead, handle travel papers and health preparations 2 to 4 weeks ahead, then meet the surgeon in person. Most procedures on our site need 5 to 14 days in Seoul from surgery day, and you usually fly after the last check your procedure needs.
What should you do 8 to 12 weeks before surgery?
As a general guide, this is the time to choose the procedure and the clinic, before you look at flights. Read the procedure page, its risks and who it may not suit, then check the clinic with our guide to choosing a plastic surgery clinic. Tell your own doctor at home what you are planning too, so someone local knows your history when you come back.
Send clear photos for an online consultation. A patient coordinator answers first, then the surgeon at the partner clinic that fits your case reviews your photos and consults in depth. You pay nothing for that consultation or for being matched with the clinic. The coordinator is not a doctor, so the final plan comes from the surgeon and the written quote from the clinic, and both are confirmed in person. The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, in its advice on surgery abroad, recommends 2 consultations, at least 1 of them in person, with 2 weeks to think between them. Starting early gives you that time.
- Choose the procedure and read its recovery and risks
- Check the clinic, the surgeon and who gives the anesthesia
- Send photos and ask what the written quote will list
- Pick surgery dates that leave room for the full stay in the table further down
- Book flights you can change and a hotel close to the clinic
Do you need a visa or a K-ETA for Korea?
It depends on your passport. Travelers from countries that can enter Korea without a visa may need a K-ETA, an electronic travel authorization you get online before you fly. Apply on the official site, k-eta.go.kr, rather than through a third-party site, and check the rules for your nationality close to booking, because they change.
If you need a visa for Korea, ask the Korean embassy or consulate which visa fits a trip for medical treatment and which documents the clinic has to provide. Leave several weeks for this. Check the passport validity rules for Korea as well, and keep a copy of your quote and appointment confirmation with your travel papers.
What should you do 2 to 4 weeks before?
Stop smoking and vaping now if you have not already. Smoking makes poor healing more likely, and surgeons usually ask you to stop for several weeks before and after surgery. Ask yours for the exact dates.
Send the clinic a list of every medicine and supplement you take. Some, such as blood thinners, may need to be paused before surgery, but only as your surgeon tells you; do not stop a prescribed medicine on your own. Tell the surgeon if you have had a blood clot before or take estrogen, including the contraceptive pill. Travel advice from an NHS hospital trust lists both as factors that raise the risk of a clot.
Confirm the written quote now with our surgery quote checklist, and decide whether you want anything else on the same trip. If you are also thinking about skin treatments, our guide to low-downtime skin treatments covers how they fit around surgery. Then start your packing list:
- Loose tops that open at the front, so nothing is pulled over your face
- Sunglasses, a scarf or a hat for the first days out
- A list of your medicines, and copies of the quote and the consent form
- A phone charger and the messaging app the clinic uses
- Flat shoes and comfortable clothes for short walks
- For body or breast surgery, a compression or support garment if the clinic does not provide one
What happens when you arrive and at the consultation?
Give yourself time to recover from the flight before surgery. The in-person consultation is where the surgeon examines you, confirms the plan and gives the final price. The British guidance suggests holding it at least 48 hours before the operation, so ask the clinic whether your schedule allows that, and do not sign anything you have not had time to read.
Expect checks before surgery, such as blood tests, and ask which ones the clinic does and when. Bring your list of medicines, any records of earlier surgery and the questions you still have, and confirm again who operates and who gives your anesthesia.
What happens on surgery day?
Follow the clinic’s instructions on eating and drinking before anesthesia to the letter. How long you spend at the clinic depends on the operation. Double eyelid surgery takes 30 minutes to 1 hour under sedation or local anesthesia, while an SMAS facelift takes about 2 to 3 hours under general anesthesia.
Many procedures are day surgery: you leave the clinic the same day and rest at your hotel. Ask whether someone has to collect you after sedation or general anesthesia, and plan a taxi rather than the subway. If several areas are treated with liposuction, ask whether your plan includes a night at the clinic.
What happens in days 1 to 7?
Swelling and bruising are usually at their worst in the first days; after eyelid surgery, that means days 1 to 3. Rest at the hotel with your head raised, use cold packs if the clinic suggests them and take short, gentle walks. Avoid alcohol, saunas and swimming; after eyelid surgery the usual advice covers the first 2 weeks.
You go back to the clinic for follow-up visits, and for many face procedures the stitches come out around the end of the first week. That is day 5 to 7 after incisional double eyelid surgery. For rhinoplasty with an implant it is around day 7, when the splint also comes off; a plan that uses your own cartilage alone can keep stitches in until day 10. An SMAS facelift takes a little longer, with stitches out on day 7 to 10. A mini facelift, for example, comes with 2 to 3 follow-up visits on the partner clinic’s list; agree those dates before you buy your return ticket.
Plan quiet days around these visits: short walks near the hotel, meals you can have delivered and nothing you cannot cancel.
When can you fly home after surgery?
Most people fly home after their last planned visit, usually a check-up or stitch removal. The table shows the typical time in Seoul and the usual earliest day to fly for procedures on our site, counted from surgery day; add the days before surgery for arrival and the consultation. Your surgeon confirms your own dates, and combined procedures can need longer.
Recent surgery and long flights each raise the risk of a blood clot in the leg, called deep vein thrombosis (DVT), and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons warns that combining travel with surgery makes complications more likely. Travel advice from an NHS hospital trust says flights of 4 hours or more roughly double the risk of DVT. On the way home, walk the aisle when you can, stretch your calves every 30 minutes, drink water and wear compression stockings if your surgeon recommends them. Check your airline’s own rules on flying after surgery too.
For breast augmentation, the partner clinic lists stitch removal at about 2 weeks, which is usually after you fly, so ask how it will be handled once you are home. After liposuction, wear your compression garment on the flight.
| Procedure | Typical time in Seoul | Flying home is usually possible |
|---|---|---|
| Double eyelid surgery | 5 to 7 days | Around day 6, after the check-up |
| Under-eye fat repositioning | 5 to 7 days | Around day 6, after the stitch check |
| Ptosis correction | 6 to 7 days | Around day 7, after the one-week check |
| Rhinoplasty | 7 to 10 days | Around day 8, after the splint comes off |
| Revision rhinoplasty | 7 to 10 days | After stitches and splint come off, around day 8 to 10 |
| Mini facelift | 7 to 10 days | Around day 8, after the stitch check |
| SMAS facelift | 10 to 14 days | Around day 11, after the stitches are out |
| Breast augmentation | 7 to 10 days | Around day 8, after your check-up |
| Liposuction | About 7 nights | Around day 7, after the stitch check |
| Double chin surgery | About 7 days | Around day 7, after your check-up |
What should you do once you are home?
Recovery goes on after the flight. Swelling keeps going down for weeks to months: an eyelid crease usually settles at about 3 months, and the tip of the nose can keep settling for up to a year. Keep following the clinic’s instructions on scar care, sun, exercise and garments.
Send photos to the clinic as you heal, on the schedule it gives you. Before you leave Seoul, ask who reviews them, how you will hear if you should see a local doctor, whether the clinic also offers video check-ins and who answers your messages.
Get urgent medical help where you are if you have chest pain, sudden breathlessness or a painful, swollen leg, then tell the clinic. If you later feel a result needs correcting, ask your surgeon about timing before you plan another trip.
More questions
How long should I stay in Seoul for plastic surgery?
For most procedures on our site, 5 to 14 days from surgery day, plus the days before surgery for arrival and the consultation. Eyelid surgery sits at the short end and an SMAS facelift at the long end. Combining procedures can add time, so ask the surgeon to confirm your dates in writing before you book flights.
Can I have surgery the day after I land?
You can ask, but it leaves little time to rest after the flight or to think over the final plan. The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons suggests 48 hours or more between the in-person consultation and the operation. Ask the clinic what its schedule allows before you book.
Is it safe to fly after plastic surgery?
Flying is usually possible once the surgeon has done your last planned check. Surgery and long flights both raise the risk of blood clots, so move often on the plane and drink water. Ask your surgeon whether you need compression stockings or other precautions, especially after body surgery or a long operation.
Should I travel alone for surgery in Korea?
You can, but a companion helps in the first days, especially after general anesthesia. If you travel alone, stay close to the clinic, keep its contact details on your phone and plan meals and taxis in advance. Ask the clinic whether someone must collect you after surgery.
Can I go sightseeing while I recover in Seoul?
Short, easy outings are usually possible once the first swelling eases, if your surgeon agrees. Protect healing skin from the sun, skip saunas, swimming and alcohol until you are told otherwise, and keep long day trips for after your check-up or stitch removal.
Procedures in this article
Sources
- K-ETA, Korea Electronic Travel Authorization. Korea Immigration Service
- BAAPS Cosmetic Tourism Guidelines. British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons
- Surgery and Travel. Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Understanding Your Risk for Healthcare-Associated VTE (Blood Clots). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Briefing Paper: Cosmetic Surgery Tourism. American Society of Plastic Surgeons