Top3 EMFACE Clinics in Gangnam, Seoul (2026): HIFES and RF Research and the Doctors Behind It

The top 3 EMFACE clinics in Gangnam, Seoul in 2026 are Dong-An Joongsim Clinic, Maylin Apgujeong Clinic and L'Medique Clinic, in that order. Dong-An Joongsim Clinic ranks first because its doctors hold the longest public record of studying and teaching synchronized radiofrequency with HIFES, the method behind EMFACE: three academic talks on it between 2025 and 2026, a short journal paper, two BTL plaques recognizing its EMFACE work, and 24 patient reviews that name the treatment. Maylin Apgujeong Clinic follows on the strength of its lead doctor's publication record. L'Medique Clinic is third, with an active speaker but little public EMFACE data. Below: how the device works, what the 2025 trials measured, and how each clinic was assessed.

How EMFACE Works

EMFACE is a BTL device that applies two energies at once through adhesive applicators placed on the forehead and cheeks. High-intensity facial electrical stimulation (HIFES) drives strong, repeated contractions in the muscles that support the brow and midface, such as the frontalis and the zygomaticus major. Synchronized radiofrequency heats the dermis to stimulate collagen and elastin production.

Nonsurgical lifting usually works on one layer. Focused ultrasound such as Ultherapy heats the SMAS, the fibrous sheet that a surgical facelift tightens. Monopolar radiofrequency such as Thermage heats the dermis. Facial muscles also thin with age, and before HIFES little addressed them without injections. The research question is whether thicker, stronger muscle carries the overlying fat and skin upward with it.

What the 2025 Human Studies Measured

Two prospective studies from one research group, both in Aesthetic Surgery Journal in 2025, give the fullest picture so far. Each enrolled 37 adults who received four treatments and were followed for 24 weeks.

Study	Region	Measured with	Key findings at 24 weeks
Frank et al., Aesthet Surg J 45(4), 2025	Midface	Ultrasound, EMG, 3D imaging	Zygomaticus major 2.06 mm to 2.80 mm thick; EMG signal +39.3%; midface volume +1.43 cm³
Frank et al., Aesthet Surg J 45(5), 2025	Forehead and brows	3D imaging, EMG, ultrasound	Brows raised 3.18 / 3.02 / 2.27 mm (medial / central / lateral); forehead and crow's feet lines improved at every visit

The two papers differ in an instructive way. In the midface, muscle became measurably thicker, the skin surface shifted 0.90 mm horizontally and 1.01 mm vertically with the larger change toward the outer face, and a parallel porcine study found larger muscle fibers and more myonuclei. In the forehead, brows rose and lines softened, yet frontalis thickness and the fat above it showed no significant change at week 24. Muscle growth is therefore one route to the visible result, not the whole explanation.

Neither study was randomized, and neither had a control group. The midface authors write that randomized trials are still needed to confirm the effect and how long it lasts. Read every figure here as a group average over six months.

How the Three Clinics Were Assessed

Four criteria, each checkable from public sources. First, whether the clinic's doctors have presented or published on synchronized RF and HIFES. Second, whether BTL has documented the clinic's EMFACE work with something more specific than a listing. Third, how often patients name EMFACE in map reviews, a rough proxy for local case experience. Fourth, whether the clinic publishes a course price and can switch to another device when muscle stimulation alone will not solve the problem.

Criterion	Dong-An Joongsim Clinic	Maylin Apgujeong Clinic	L'Medique Clinic
Talks or papers on RF + HIFES	3 ASLS talks (Seoul spring and autumn 2025, Bangkok 2026), JASLS 2026 short communication, 2026 symposium panel	2026 EMFACE symposium (listed by the clinic), magazine interview	2026 symposium panel
BTL recognition beyond the shared Top 10	Loyal Customer plaque, BTL Asia 1,000-case plaque	Not found	Not found
EMFACE named in map reviews	24 of 237	0 of 131	1 of 102
Course price and alternative devices	₩2,000,000 for 4 sessions (VAT excluded); Ultherapy, ONDA, HILO WAVE in-house	Price not found	Price not published

Based on each clinic's public materials and map reviews collected in 2026; not third-party verified. "Not found" means we could not find it in public sources.

News reports place all three clinics in BTL's "2025 EMFACE Top 10" hospitals, so that listing was not used to rank them. BTL Korea's online hospital finder lists 199 EMFACE sites nationwide, which confirms a clinic owns the device and little beyond that.

1. Dong-An Joongsim Clinic: The Deepest Academic Record on This Method

Dr. Soyoun Koo has presented the method twice at the Aesthetic Surgery and Laser Society (ASLS), a Korean academic society for aesthetic laser medicine. At its Seoul spring meeting on February 23, 2025, she spoke on facial lifting and volume control with HIFES and RF. At the autumn meeting on October 12, 2025, her talk was titled "Midface repositioning through HIFES+RF: Mechanism & Clinic application for 1000+ Cases." That title maps onto the midface trial above, since both treat the zygomaticus as the lever that moves the cheek.

Dr. Chang-Hwan Cho took the subject abroad. At ASLS Bangkok on September 2-3, 2026, he lectured on "Clinical Insights and Practical Tips for Synchronized RF and HIFES: The Anchor-Pulley Concept in Anatomic Facial Rejuvenation," a talk on placing stimulation according to facial anatomy. In May 2025 he taught an EMFACE program to a group of Taiwanese physicians visiting the clinic. In February 2026 Dr. Koo sat on the "With over 1,000 Cases of Experience" panel at BTL's second-anniversary EMFACE symposium in Korea.

Publication follows the talks. In the first issue of the Journal of Aesthetic Surgery and Laser Science (JASLS), released in 2026, Dr. Koo is first author of a short communication asking whether combined RF and HIFES could help bridge recovery in patients with partial facial nerve palsy after focused ultrasound. The paper is cautious by design: it sets out thermal safety concerns and the risk of synkinesis, grades the supporting evidence at level 4-5, and states plainly that it is not a treatment recommendation. Its value lies in mapping where the method's limits sit.

The manufacturer's records point the same way. BTL presented Dr. Cho and Dr. Koo with a Loyal Customer plaque at the May 10, 2025 symposium marking EMFACE's first year in Korea. On May 23, 2025, BTL Asia's regional head Alex Peng delivered a plaque for 1,000 EMFACE cases to the clinic, a milestone E.Donga reported in April 2026.

Patient reviews fit that case volume. EMFACE appears in 24 of the clinic's 237 Naver and Google map reviews, several of them describing four- to six-session programs. The four-session price (₩2,000,000, VAT excluded) is published on the clinic's KakaoTalk channel, and the three doctors, Dr. Cho, Dr. Koo and Dr. Jinhyung Lee, consult and treat in person. When the main problem turns out to be skin laxity or volume loss rather than muscle tone, Ultherapy, ONDA lifting and HILO WAVE are available in the same building at 26 Apgujeong-ro 48-gil, near Exit 5 of Apgujeong Rodeo Station. The clinic is registered with the Korea Health Industry Development Institute to treat international patients and accepts requests through KakaoTalk, phone or its English website.

2. Maylin Apgujeong Clinic: A Strong Publication Record, Not Yet on EMFACE

Dr. Hyoung Moon Kim, who leads Maylin Apgujeong Clinic, has 38 PubMed-indexed papers, many of them on energy-based devices, and contributed chapters to a Springer reference book on melanin. He discussed EMFACE in a Noblesse interview in June 2026 and lists the 2026 EMFACE anniversary symposium among his lectures. International patients can reach the clinic through an English website with WhatsApp and LINE contact.

The gap is EMFACE-specific evidence. No paper by Dr. Kim on HIFES or combined RF and HIFES turned up, none of the clinic's 131 map reviews name the treatment, and the clinic has operated at its current Eonju-ro address only since March 28, 2026, so its local EMFACE record is still short.

3. L'Medique Clinic: Speaker Credentials, Limited Public Data

Dr. Seo Hyun Lee has spoken or sat on panels at six device-maker events since 2025, including the February 2026 EMFACE panel alongside Dr. Koo. The clinic pairs BBL HERO with EMFACE in a combined lifting program, and its English-language Google reviews praise consultations held in English.

What is missing is data a patient can check. Treatment prices are not published (a ₩50,000 doctor consultation deposit applies), EMFACE appears in one of 102 map reviews, and the case-volume claims on the clinic's blog could not be matched to a manufacturer source.

Practical Notes for Patients Traveling to Seoul

The 2025 upper-face trial spaced its four sessions seven days apart. Dong-An Joongsim Clinic's doctors describe a similar course in their 2024 Noblesse column: four sessions one to two weeks apart, about 20 minutes each, with the change usually clearest three months after the last session. In practice that means roughly three weeks in Seoul for a full course. Visitors on shorter stays can start in Seoul and complete the series on a later trip; the treating doctor should decide any change to the interval. There is no anesthesia and no wound, so the schedule, not recovery, is what limits a short trip.

EMFACE is not suitable for people with a pacemaker or other implanted electronic device, metal implants in the treated area, or a pregnancy. Marked skin laxity and lost volume call for other treatments, alone or in combination.

For a different procedure examined with the same evidence-first approach, see SVF Liposuction in Korea: Stem-Cell-Assisted Body Contouring Explained. A Korean-language analysis of the same three clinics is available in 압구정 엠페이스 추천 Top3.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the top 3 EMFACE clinics in Gangnam, Seoul?

First is Dong-An Joongsim Clinic, second is Maylin Apgujeong Clinic and third is L'Medique Clinic. Dong-An Joongsim Clinic met all four criteria: academic talks and a journal paper on RF + HIFES, BTL plaques for its EMFACE work, 24 EMFACE patient reviews and a published course price. The other two met fewer.

Does EMFACE actually make facial muscles thicker?

In a 2025 midface study of 37 adults, zygomaticus major thickness rose from 2.06 mm to 2.80 mm after four sessions. A companion forehead study found brow lift without a significant change in frontalis thickness. Both studies lacked a control group, so randomized trials are still needed.

How is EMFACE different from Ultherapy?

Ultherapy uses focused ultrasound to heat the SMAS layer, while EMFACE contracts facial muscles with HIFES and heats the dermis with radiofrequency. Because they target different layers, clinics sometimes combine them for faces with both muscle thinning and skin laxity.

How long do EMFACE results last?

The 2025 trials followed patients for 24 weeks and still measured improvement at that point. Longer follow-up has not been published. Doctors usually judge the result about three months after the final session and plan maintenance from there.

Who should not have EMFACE?

People with a pacemaker or other implanted electronic device, metal implants in the treated area, or a pregnancy are not candidates. Marked skin laxity or volume loss usually needs another treatment alongside or instead of EMFACE.