'Preventive treatments will be mainstream beauty trend'

By Kwak Yeon-soo

Park Dae-jeong, a cosmetic doctor at the toxnfill clinic / Courtesy of toxnfill clinic

Procedures that offer minor tweaks and small corrections to the face and body are increasing in popularity.

On top of that, more and more patients are looking for preventive treatments ― meaning they use Botox or fillers to stop creases and wrinkles before they start appearing.

“I think preventive treatments will be big in the near future,” said Park Dae-jeong, a cosmetic doctor who specializes in Botox and fillers.

“Reflecting such trends, a larger number of patients are undergoing non-surgical treatments at a younger age.”

According to Park, most of the patients that visit his clinic “toxnfill” are in their 20s and 30s. By gender, women account for about 90 percent.

The aesthetics expert said that compared with few years ago, when the youngest patients getting Botox were in their mid-to late-30s, he now sees a lot of women in their late 20s coming in to start treatment.

“Now that exaggerated cosmetic procedures or one-size-fits-all beauty standards are all gone, preventive procedures and maintenance for smooth, hydrated skin are becoming the new norm,” Park said.

Botox injections are used to retrain facial and physical muscles to pull them up or remove wrinkles while fillers are used to soften creases and smooth out wrinkles.

Park explained that injecting a filler into a patient's cheeks can make cheekbones look higher, pulling the skin upward to minimize the appearance of laughter lines around one's nose and mouth.

Injecting Botox into the forehead, on the other hand, paralyzes the muscles as a preventive measure against developing wrinkles.

Fillers are meant for patients who want to sharpen their jawlines, make their noses appear higher and straighter, and plump up their lips.

“The accessibility, shorter recovery time, and instantaneous results have encouraged even those who wouldn't normally consider having treatment,” he said.

The lower barrier to entry and lower cost, compared to surgery, means patients can have their work done quickly and with less obvious results.

“Among dermal fillers, hyaluronic acid injections account for about 90 percent because patients prefer temporary fillers over semi-permanent to permanent fillers,” he said, citing that people's preferred looks change over time.

Park said he decided to focus on Botox and fillers due to stiff competition in the aesthetics industry in Korea.

“Thanks to our expertise in Botox and fillers, we were able to expand to 38 cosmetic surgery clinics in Korea,” he said.

“There have been requests from other Asian countries that want to use our brand name, but I think a skill transfer and employee training would work better for now. I'm afraid that hastily opening a branch in another country could negatively affect the brand image as a whole.”