Note №23LAW & LICENSING
A facial in a Gangnam aesthetic shop and a laser toning session in a dermatology clinic can be booked on the same street, sometimes in the same building. Korean law draws a hard line between them, and the line is written into a single sentence of statute.
The Public Health Control Act defines the skin-care business (피부미용업) as: “a business performing skin condition analysis, skin care, hair removal and eyebrow grooming without using medical devices or medicines.” That final clause is the whole boundary. The moment a procedure involves a medical device — a laser, an ultrasound lifting device, a needle — it stops being skin care and becomes a medical act, which only a medical institution may perform.
Two licences, two worlds
The people on each side of the line hold different credentials. An aesthetician operates under a cosmetologist licence issued by the local government under the Public Health Control Act — the standard route is a national technical qualification in skin care (미용사(피부)) or a related degree. A dermatology procedure is performed under a doctor’s medical licence. Both are real, state-issued credentials; they simply authorise different things.
| Aesthetic shop (에스테틱) | Medical clinic (피부과 의원 등) | |
|---|---|---|
| Legal basis | Public Health Control Act | Medical Service Act |
| Credential | Cosmetologist licence (skin care) | Doctor’s licence |
| May legally do | Skin analysis, facials, hair removal, eyebrow grooming | Medical acts, including device and injection procedures |
| May not do | Anything using medical devices or medicines | — |
| If a dispute arises | Consumer channels | Medical dispute channels (K-MEDI mediation) |
Why this matters when you book
- The menu tells you which world you are in. If a booking includes a laser, HIFU, injections or anything piercing the skin, it is a medical act — it belongs in a clinic, performed under a doctor’s licence. An aesthetic shop offering it is offering something the law does not let it do.
- “Dermatology-grade” marketing is a red flag by definition. Korean regulators have already banned cosmetics marketing that borrows clinical authority — terms like “hospital-exclusive” and “dermatology-procedure-use” were prohibited in cosmetics advertising in January 2025.
- Your recourse differs. A dispute with a clinic can go through Korea’s medical dispute mediation system; a dispute with an aesthetic shop is a consumer matter. Same street, different safety nets.
- Neither side is “fake.” A licensed aesthetician doing what the law allows is exactly as legitimate as a clinic. The problem is only the overlap zone — device or needle work outside a medical setting.
What this article does not claim
This article does not claim that aesthetic shops commonly break the rule, and it names no establishment. It describes the statutory boundary only. Enforcement practice and how often the line is crossed were not measured here.
Sources and last verification
- Public Health Control Act (공중위생관리법), Article 2(1)5(나) definition of the skin-care business and Article 6 licence requirements — law.go.kr (text confirmed via a Korean legal database mirror, current as of 31 July 2025) — accessed 18 August 2026
- Ministry of Food and Drug Safety cosmetics advertising guideline revision banning clinical-authority marketing terms (21 January 2025) — previously verified for our exosome article — accessed 18 August 2026
Verified 18 August 2026. Statutes are amended regularly; the definitions cited here are from the text in force at verification.
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