Gangnam Skin Clinic Toxin Day One to Day Fourteen

Prices below come from the listed clinics' own price lists, before VAT. 10% VAT is added at payment.

Clinics in the district stock both imported and Korean-made botulinum toxin, for example Botox, Xeomin, Nabota and Coretox. Ask which brand is going into the syringe and look at the label before it is drawn up, then note it down; the brand matters for future doses as much as for this one.

Nothing much shows on the first two days. Around day three to five the treated muscles begin to weaken, and frown lines or forehead creases look softer when you move. The change keeps building through the second week.

Jaw toxin for a square lower face works on a slower clock. Clenching feels weaker within days, but the visible slimming depends on the masseter muscle thinning, which usually takes several weeks. A visitor flying out after a week will see the start of it at home, not the finished outline.

By about day fourteen the effect has settled, which makes it the usual point to judge balance. One brow sitting higher than the other, a line that still creases or a smile that feels slightly uneven can often be adjusted with a few extra units. Ask before treatment whether a review is offered, in what window and whether it is charged.

The research base is reassuring for short-term safety. Cavallini and colleagues, in a 2014 systematic review in Dermatologic Surgery covering clinical trials published from 2000 to mid-2012, found onabotulinumtoxinA in 60% of the included studies and reported eye sensory disorders in 3% of upper-face treatments. Every treatment-related effect they recorded resolved on its own, and the effect itself fades over three to four months.

Most reactions are minor and short-lived, but it helps to know which ones to report. Results vary from person to person.

• Common and brief: a pinprick bruise, tender spots, a mild headache on the first day or two
• Less common: a drooping eyelid or brow, a heavy forehead feeling, an uneven smile after lower-face work
• Report to the clinic: any droop or asymmetry, so it can be reviewed and recorded
• Seek urgent care: difficulty swallowing, speaking or breathing, or weakness spreading beyond the face
• Not suitable: pregnancy or breastfeeding, neuromuscular conditions such as myasthenia gravis, infection at the site, known allergy to the product

Book toxin early in a stay so day fourteen, or at least day seven, falls before departure. Someone with two weeks in Seoul can see the full result and use the review; someone with three days will fly home before the effect starts and should leave with the brand, units per area and photos taken on the day.

Flying itself is usually fine once the first few hours have passed. A map search for skin clinic Gangnam returns a long list of practices, and people searching gangnam skin clinic Seoul often book a first visit on arrival day; for toxin, arriving early in the trip matters more than which street the clinic sits on.