By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter

Two dermatologists have been accused of causing facial injuries on 10 women by applying a phenol-containing chemical in a skin peeling treatment.

The prosecution indicted the doctors, Ahn and Roh, who worked at a skin clinic in Gangnam, Monday, on charges of negligence resulting in injury. The clinic closed in April last year after its chief died of a heart attack.

According to the prosecution, Ahn inflicted injuries on nine people by giving a skin exfoliation treatment with a chemical, which the unidentified clinic chief had developed, between April 2004 and March 2008.

The chemical caused fourth-degree burns on a 40-year-old patient, who was hoping to have liver spots removed. She was burned on 60 percent of her face and the wound is so serious that she is unable to have a skin graft operation, according to the prosecution.

Treatment carried out by Roh caused third-degree burns on a 50-year-old patient. She was burned on 80 percent of her face, and could not close her eyes. She underwent a skin graft operation last February.

Other victims also had side effects including burns, scars and pigmentation.

The clinic head made the chemical with phenol in 2002 and publicized it as a treatment for liver spots, wrinkles and scars through medical programs on cable channels, the prosecution said. The victims claimed they paid 12 to 20 million won for the treatment.

``As the hospital chief kept the contents secret, the doctors performed the treatment without properly knowing what the chemical contained. They had not informed the patients of what the chemical contained and the possible side effects before treatment, so they neglected their duty,'' a prosecutor said.

It is also negligence to use a chemical before testing its safety, he added.

Sixteen victims ― including six who received treatment from the clinic chief ― filed a complaint with the prosecution, and compensation suits against the chief's family.

``I paid 12 million won as the chief said liver spots can be removed through the simple treatment. Now I got burned all over my face, cannot leave my house without covering my face with a mask and a cap, and my fiance left me,'' the 40-year-old patient was quoted as saying by the prosecution.

rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr