The state of Korean clinic reviews

Updated 2026-07-28. Computed from the live index; free to cite.

4,290 patient mentions indexed across 107 cosmetic & medical clinics (plastic surgery, dermatology and eye surgery) and 36 named surgeons, with 270 real price quotes.

Key findings: about 5.3% of indexed reviews are promotional or incentivised (including 28 whose authors disclosed a discount or payment); 417 cautionary posts sit in the open; and ₩0 has been taken from any clinic.

Sources

  • 3,229 Reddit posts and comments
  • 830 PurseForum threads
  • 127 RealSelf reviews
  • 104 YouTube videos (mostly clinic-run)

Pay-to-play signals

229 items flagged (5.3%), including 28 reviews disclosing a discount or payment and 75 clinic-run marketing videos.

Negative space

  • 254 strongly negative posts
  • 85 complication mentions
  • 71 posts about needing a revision
  • 7 mentions of legal action or malpractice