As the Seoul skyline loomed in my tear-blurred peripheral vision, I sucked in a deep breath as the doctor hovered over me, syringe in hand. “Are you ready?” he asked me. “Absolutely not,” I replied, my voice wobbling, “but let’s get this over with.”
I had flown to Seoul to experience the next wave of Korean beauty, meeting with a handful of skin and makeup brands to learn about their history and what unique qualities each would be bringing with their eventual launch into the United States as part of a partnership between Ulta and online shopping platform K-Beauty World. From the rich and hydrating lip colors of Rom&nd to the cutting-edge ingredient formulations of Sungboon Editor’s overnight collagen gel masks, every day I found something new to remind me just how far ahead of the United States K-beauty truly is.
Midway through the trip, our host offered us the chance to visit a skin clinic and try treatments you can only get in Korea. Zell Clinic, located in the ritzy Seocho district of Seoul, is run by board-certified dermatologist and Harvard-trained Dr. Jong Min Park, M.D. Considered an international expert in Botox, fillers, and skin lasers, Park has office offering an intimate setting that wasn’t the factory clinics I was warned about that churn through a high volume of patients quickly and without proper consultations.
Considering my history with aesthetic treatments, that was exactly what I was looking for. While I’m an expert at energy-based modalities, having had everything from Ultherapy to Halo, I’m an injectables virgin. Needles and I are not friends, thanks to a fun condition called vasovagal — I experience sudden drops of blood pressure around needles and blood that lead to me unexpectedly fainting.
And yet, for some reason, I got it into my head that it was imperative that I not leave Korea without experiencing a PDRN treatment. For the uninitiated, PDRN (aka polydeoxyribonucleotide) is currently the trendiest skin booster treatment in Korea, and it promises to improve skin elasticity, texture, pore size, and fine lines. Colloquially called the “salmon sperm” facial, PDRN is actually purified DNA fragments that are extracted from the sperm cells of salmon. So, no, not as gross as it sounds. While there are plant-based alternatives as well as the OG salmon DNA in topical form, most dermatologists agree the most effective way to get the full benefits is by injecting it into the skin. Currently, that’s not a Food and Drug Administration approved treatment option (although some dermatologists and med spas are offering microneedling followed by applying it over the freshly poked skin as a next best thing), so I knew that if I wanted it, this was my chance.
When I sat down with Park for my consultation, he asked me what treatments I had done in the past to my skin. After getting a clear picture of my skin history, Park then asked me what I was interested in exploring. “Rejuran,” I blurted out, referencing the most popular brand of PDRN injectable on the market. He asked me what my skin goals were, and I told him that I wanted to do what I could to help tighten up my jawline and make my eyes not look quite so heavy, as I had noticed, at 42, pretty much everything was heading southward bound at a faster pace. Rejuran appealed to me because I had heard it could help create a smoother texture, and I was noticing some deterioration in my skin’s quality as I aged. I also was interested in anything I could do to help keep my skin hydrated. We decided that Rejuran and hyaluronic acid injections would be the best starting point for me.
It’s not uncommon in skin clinics to stack injectables with laser treatments in one appointment, especially for those like me who have traveled long distances and are trying to maximize their results. So, while my primary goal was to experience Rejuran, I also told Park that I was interested in laser energy devices. While we briefly discussed addressing my hyperpigmentation, I decided that I wanted to focus on toning and lifting the lower half of my face and supporting my collagen production instead.
With my goals in mind, he recommended that I undergo a combination of a radiofrequency and ultrasound treatment, focusing the ultrasound on my eye area, chin, and jaw and the radiofrequency on the rest of my face (excluding my forehead). Park suggested Ultherapy Prime, the latest version of Ultherapy that launched in the United States late last year, for my ultrasound, but since I was eager to try products that we can’t get in the States, I asked Park if there were any Korean alternatives. While he noted there are plenty of what he called copycat options, Ultherapy Prime is the most effective option in his opinion.
Radiofrequency (RF), on the other hand, was an area where Park liked the copycats better. While Thermage is what he typically noted would be the RF option in the United States, he pointed me to an alternative that’s just recently received FDA approval in the United States called Density. According to Park, he prefers Density for radiofrequency tightening because it offers both monopolar and bipolar energy to stimulate collagen production, whereas Thermage only provides monopolar. Park says providing two types of energy can create both immediate and long-lasting tightening effects because it penetrates into both the deeper layers of the skin, as well as into the upper dermis and epidermis.
Once I had finalized the details of my treatment plan, a member of Park’s team explained the pricing to me. For Rejuran; hyaluronic acid injections; Ultherapy Prime on my chin, jaw, and eyes; and Density on my midface, the total price was $3,140. Considering that Ultherapy Prime alone can cost $3,000 to $4,500 for a full face treatment, I thought that price was a deal. I was then led back to a treatment room with ambient lighting and soft music, where yet another member of Park’s team motioned to a locker and for me to disrobe, change, and lay on a table. For the most part, I had been communicating with Park in English and the rest of his staff via a translator. Once I got into the actual treatment space, however, my interactions with the nursing staff and aestheticians meant having to just let the process unfold. I had no idea what was coming next as I lay on the table.
It turned out that I was in for what became the very best facial of my entire life. An aesthetician rolled a device into the room called a Derma-S, which I can best describe as a Swiss Army knife of face gadgets. Unable to ask her what exactly it was, I researched it later to learn that the Derma-S has multiple attachments, including cleansing, promoting circulation, massage, pore excavating, and electroporation, which creates tiny holes in the cell membrane to force topical products deeper into the skin’s layer. It sounds painful, but it felt like a warm hug on my face. At one point, I took a photo of my face only to discover I had a mesh wrap soaked in some type of liquid covering me, some cotton gauze, and what looked like four different electrical wires that were attached to the Derma-S. My skin looked like it was being hotwired, and I still have no idea what it was doing, but it felt amazing. After this absolutely life-altering facial had been administered, a goopy layer of numbing cream was applied, followed by plastic wrap to help ensure I was good and numb. Forty-five minutes later, I was led into the main treatment room, where Park greeted me with a smile and told me we would start with the Density treatment, followed by Ultherapy.
The Density treatment felt like a warm wand running over my skin, and at that point, I think the stress and the jet lag hit me, and I might have dozed off. I was so focused on the coming injectables, I didn’t even think about the Ultherapy. My first go round with Ultherapy almost a decade before was a bit of a non-event — I was given some painkillers and anti-anxiety meds beforehand and breezed right through it wondering what everyone complained about. This was not that. The minute that Ultherapy Prime device head hit my skin and I got that first dose of ultrasound energy in my jaw, I was quite literally jolted awake as I felt it in my very bones. Now I understood the Ultherapy lore. I managed to grit my teeth and make it through, but once we got to the eye area I was grateful we were at the finish line. “Well, that was fun,” I remarked to Park. “Oh, the fun part is still to come,” he said to me with what I thought might have been a slight look of pity. Uh-oh.
I was led back to the facial room, where another thick layer of numbing cream and cling wrap were applied, and then left to cook for another 45 minutes. As each minute ticked by, I started to feel a bit more panicky as I realized the injections were imminent. What had I gotten myself into?
The numbing cream was delicately scraped off, and I was led back into the treatment room. As I lay down on the treatment table, I was handed a giant, cheerful yellow stuffed duck in place of the usual stress balls that doctors give you to squeeze through the pain. First up was the hyaluronic acid injections. Instead of syringes, however, these injections were administered via a dermal injection gun that featured multiple needles that “stamped” the HA into the skin. None of this was explained to me beforehand, however. I was just asked if I was ready and after my tentative, yes, Park went right into it. I’m pretty sure the numbing cream wore off about halfway through, or at least that’s what I keep telling myself because by the time he got to my forehead, I had tears streaming down my face from the sensation and was gripping on to my emotional support duck in an iron fist. When I asked the team at the front desk later how many shots he had done of HA, they estimated about 50.
As I wiped away my tears and briefly contemplated what the hell I was thinking, Park presented the unopened Rejuran box for me to inspect. I nodded, then watched as he opened it and showed me the two sealed Rejuran syringes. The vibe in the treatment room immediately shifted as the team kept a wary eye on me for any signs of potential lightheadedness — I had warned Park about my past adventures in fainting and made sure to keep my eyes trained on the Seoul skyline as he got everything prepped. Once he indicated he was ready, I turned my face back, closed my eyes, gave him a thumbs up, and held onto that duck for dear life.
For the days leading up to my skin clinic visit, I had been telling the various executives I had been meeting that I was considering Rejuran, and I had gotten conflicting accounts. Pretty much everyone I had spoken to had had some experience with PDRN injections — it really is that common in Seoul. I got everything from “it doesn’t really hurt that much” to “it feels like burning death” as a reaction to what I could expect. The minute that first injection hit, I can confirm that “burning death” is an accurate portrayal of my Rejuran experience. My face was on fire and an audible whimper left my mouth. I’ll be the first to admit I have zero pain tolerance, but this was a solid 12 on the 10-point pain scale. I went from squeezing the emotional support duck to trying to disembowel it as I squirmed on the table. I did not, for the record, faint. Just when I thought I couldn’t possibly take any more, it was over. The entire experience lasted less than a minute and a half, and in that time, Park expertly injected my face more than 100 times by hand.
I was once again led back to the facial room where Park instructed the aesthetician to use the magical Derma-S to administer a soothing cryo facial (because of course it can do that, too) and a soothing gel was slathered on top of my skin. I sneaked a peek at my face post injection, and while I had been warned that I would have bumps at the injection sites, I was not prepared for what I saw. My face had the texture of a stroopwafel. I was told that I could expect the bumps and redness to last for a few days and to see results from the injections in two weeks and from the lasers in three to four weeks.
I had gotten some intel from my beauty editor friend and aficionado in all things aesthetic treatments Garrett Munce, who had undergone the treatment the week before I did and told me that the best way to maximize your results, according to the doctor who performed his treatment, was to grab a topical PDRN cream from the Korean pharmacy, the best of which is called Rejuall. It turned out to be the hot-ticket item in Seoul as it was sold out at every pharmacy I ventured into.
Rejuran makes its own topical treatment products, and at Olive Young (Korea’s largest beauty retailer), I was able to grab the last box of a PDRN-infused sheet mask from the brand, which I applied on my remarkably less angry looking skin that night after patting in an application of Mixsoon’s ultra-gentle Bean Essence; I waited 45 minutes, then removed the mask, patted in the excess serum, and sealed the whole hydrating cocktail in with the pudding-like Mixsoon Bean Cream. For how red and raw my skin still looked, it didn’t hurt, which surprised me. Considering how much pain I was in during the treatment, I expected the healing process to be a grueling one.
The next day, I woke up to a remarkably less red complexion, that was still a bit bumpy and a little bruised. I set out with a goal to find Rejuall and struck gold while exploring the Myeong-dong shopping district in a pharmacy, where I was able to grab three tubes. That night, I applied the jelly-textured cream to my skin and admired how glassy it made my complexion look. Over the next few days, the bumps disappeared, and I was left with a few lingering red marks and blossoming bruises from my skin clinic experience. I headed home to the United States with my PDRN masks and creams, eager to see the effects kick in.