Dong-An Joongsim Clinic

Clinic overview

Dong-An Joongsim Clinic, which also trades as TRUE DONG-AN, is a non-surgical aesthetic dermatology and anti-aging clinic on Apgujeong-ro 48-gil, five minutes on foot from exit 5 of Apgujeong Rodeo Station. It does not operate. The work is lifting with energy devices, injectables that restore volume and collagen, and lasers for pigment, texture and scarring. The practice opened in Cheongdam in 2013 and moved to this address in 2018.

Celebrity clientele and treatment planning

Many Korean celebrities, actors and TV personalities are among its patients, and the clinic has grown on their word of mouth rather than on advertising. It keeps that clientele private and does not say who has visited. What brings them is treatment planned around the camera. When filming is the next day, the physicians choose combinations that leave no swelling or redness on set; when a shoot is a month away, they count back from the date and stage the work. The physicians consult and treat in person, and the clinic holds nearly every major lifting, skin booster, laser and body device, so the combination is chosen for the face rather than for the machine on hand. In January 2026 the Japanese women's magazine STORY featured the clinic in a Korea beauty travel issue, with TV personality Akane Osawa recommending its ONDA lifting.

Lifting treatments and device milestones

Lifting is the centre of the practice. Ultherapy Prime and Thermage FLX sit alongside ONDA microwave lifting, EMFACE, EXION, Eve Titan, Sofwave and XERF. In 2025 the Italian manufacturer El.En DEKA certified Dr. So-yeon Koo as Korea's first ONDA Lifting Expert Member, and DEKA brings doctors from Japan and Indonesia to the clinic for ONDA training. The clinic was the first in Korea to introduce BTL's EMFACE and EXION, and BTL Korea's clinic finder lists it as a provider of both. BTL presented the doctors with a Loyal Customer award in May 2025, and BTL Asia marked the clinic's 1,000 EMFACE treatments with a plaque the same month. That EMFACE experience is why the clinic received Eve Titan ahead of every other clinic: in 2025 its makers WEERO and LIGHTSTONE certified Dong-An Joongsim as the first clinic in the world supplied with the device.

CoolSculpting and HILO WAVE experience

Volume is the other half of the record. Zeltiq, the maker of CoolSculpting, gave the clinic its 2013 Korea Best Practice Award for the highest CoolSculpting performance in Korea, and the clinic has since passed 7,000 CoolSculpting treatments, the most in Korea. In 2026 Medical Aesthetic News named Dr. Chang-hwan Cho in its Top Rankers series for the most HILO WAVE treatments in the shortest time.

Pigmentation, scars and injectables

For pigmentation and melasma the clinic uses Discovery Pico picosecond toning, 785 nm toning and M22. For acne scars and enlarged pores it uses the UltraPulse Encore CO2 laser and Joule ProFractional. Injectables cover botulinum toxin, skin boosters including eye-area Rejuran and Re2O, and collagen stimulators such as Radiesse, Sculptra and Juvelook.

Physicians and consultation

Three physicians practise here: Dr. Chang-hwan Cho, Dr. So-yeon Koo and Dr. Jinhyung Lee. Treatment is planned in consultation with the physician who performs it; the coordinator's role is limited to explaining costs. Dr. Cho is first author of a 2026 review in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology comparing how collagen biostimulators such as PLLA, PDLLA, PCL and CaHA act on skin, with attention to facial ageing after GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, and has lectured at aesthetic medicine congresses in Bangkok, Tokyo, Jakarta, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Xi'an. Dr. Koo has advised on beauty segments for KBS, SBS, MBC and tvN.

International patients and access

The clinic is on the Korea Health Industry Development Institute register of institutions approved to treat foreign patients, keeps Japanese-speaking staff on site and takes Japanese bookings through an official LINE account. Valet parking is available, and Friday hours run to 21:00.