Scar Treatmentin Seoul: Laser, Injection & Subcision

A scar is the fibrous tissue skin lays down to close a wound. How it ends up looking depends on how deep the injury went, where on the body it sits, how much tension pulls on it and how strongly that person's skin repairs itself.

Many people search for this as scar revision. Here it means non-surgical care only, with laser, injection and subcision, and no excision. Each is aimed at making a scar less visible: flatter, closer in color to the skin around it, softer at the edges. The skin does not return to its state before the injury, and how much a scar changes differs from one scar to the next.

The scar menu on the clinic's price list uses three kinds of tool, and each one answers a different shape of problem. The table below matches them up.

Pitted and rolling acne scars

Acne leaves two broad problems behind. Pits are places where inflammation destroyed collagen, and the area-priced laser bundle is used on them. Dips that soften when you stretch the skin are held down by strands below the surface, which a beam aimed from above cannot cut, so subcision is added for those. The device-by-device plan, recovery timeline and photos are on the acne scar treatment page.

Scars from a cesarean, thyroid or breast operation

An incision scar is a single line, and what bothers people about it varies: a line that has widened, a pink or brown tone, a ridge you can feel, or a step in the skin surface. The price list handles these two ways. A cesarean, thyroid or breast surgery scar has a fixed price per area, and any other straight scar is charged by its length in centimeters.

Numbing cream, local anesthesia or sedation is chosen according to the size of the area. The clinic notes that redness, scabbing and swelling can last about two weeks or longer. A surgical scar keeps remodeling as it matures, so change continues over months, and sessions are repeated according to the state of the scar at intervals the doctor sets.

Laser for this kind of scar has expert backing with caveats. A consensus report on traumatic scars called ablative fractional laser a promising tool that remains underused, advised folding it into a wider scar program, and asked for more research to confirm it (Anderson et al., 2014).

Keloids and raised hypertrophic scars

A hypertrophic scar is thick and raised yet stays within the line of the original wound, and it can flatten with time. A keloid spreads past that line into skin that was never injured, may itch or feel tender, and can grow back after treatment.

Injection into the scar is the tool listed for raised scars, charged per centimeter. Keloid injections generally use a corticosteroid that softens and flattens scar tissue; the price list does not name the drug, so ask which product is used for you. The clinic repeats injections every 3 to 6 weeks according to how the scar responds, with no anesthesia or a local one. Pain, bruising and a temporary dent where the tissue thins are possible at the injection site, and the clinic states plainly that keloids can come back. More detail is on the keloid treatment page.

Laser alone for raised scars has a thin evidence base. A Cochrane review found the trials small, varied and conflicting, and called for longer, better studies that also track recurrence (Leszczynski et al., 2022).

Subcision for scars held down from below

Subcision is a needle technique. A fine needle is passed under the scar to cut the fibrous bands that anchor it, letting the surface rise. It is priced by size: under 2 × 2 cm, under 5 × 5 cm, or every area of the face that needs it. According to the clinic, bruising and swelling last about two weeks with possible tenderness, and 1 to 3 sessions or more are planned 4 to 8 weeks apart under numbing cream or local anesthesia. The subcision page explains who it suits.

What the scar laser bundle contains

On the price list, scar laser is one line that groups six devices: Enderm, Opus Pixel, Hybrid, UltraPulse, SkinJet and Sca Mode. The doctor combines them scar by scar, so an area price buys treatment of that zone for one session. It does not buy a fixed number of passes from one machine.

UltraPulse Alpha is a fractional CO2 laser from Lumenis. Fractional CO2 is a widely studied laser type for sunken scars. A meta-analysis comparing it with fractional erbium laser found it worked better with shorter downtime, though it hurt more and may raise the chance of pigment change afterward (Liu et al., 2024). A network meta-analysis of six light- and energy-based methods kept fractional CO2 as the mainstream option, found plasma radiofrequency suited people who can tolerate more discomfort, and saw no clear edge for microneedle radiofrequency, while noting that few studies exist (Wang et al., 2023). Both papers test device types in general, which is different from proof for the specific machines in this clinic.

Scar options side by side

When scar treatment should wait

• A wound or incision that has not fully closed
• Infection, a cold sore outbreak or broken skin on the area
• Inflamed acne still active over the scars
• Pregnancy or breastfeeding
• A fresh tan or sunburn where laser would go
• A history of keloids, which you should mention before any laser or needle work

Risks named before you book

• Darkening of treated skin after laser, known as post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation; a review of fractional resurfacing in Asian skin names it as the main complication and links lower density, wider spacing and more sessions with less of it (Wat et al., 2016)
• Infection or a cold sore flare on treated skin
• Bruising, swelling and tender spots after subcision
• Thinning, a dent or lighter skin where an injection went into a raised scar
• A keloid growing back after any form of treatment
• A burn or a new scar, which ablative laser can cause
• Partial change: scars soften and fade but stay visible, and thick or wide scars take repeated sessions

Contact the clinic promptly if redness spreads, pain keeps increasing, cloudy discharge appears or a treated area feels hot days later.

Who plans scar treatment here

Dr. Jongkeun Song is a Korean board-certified plastic surgeon and the Medical Director of Pixelab Beauty Clinic. Residency took place at The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, followed by work as a clinical fellow and clinical instructor at Incheon St. Mary's Hospital. Among Dr. Song's eight society memberships are the Korean Wound Society and the Korean Burn Society, two groups centered on how skin heals.

For 2025–2026, Korea's Ministry of Justice designated Pixelab Beauty Clinic an outstanding foreign-patient attraction institution. The clinic is also accredited under Korea's KAHF foreign-patient program, and staff interpreters cover English, Japanese and Chinese.

Fourteen scar lines sit on the clinic's price list, and each card below gives the amount before tax together with the figure after Korea's 10% VAT, which is charged when you pay.

The unit changes with the kind of scar. Laser for acne scars is sold by the size of the area: a card-sized patch, both cheeks or the full face, each as one session or a five-session package, plus a one-year plan that allows a treatment every 2 months. Surgical scars from a cesarean, thyroid or breast operation are charged per area, while other linear scars and keloid injections are charged per centimeter of scar. Subcision steps up in three sizes. PDRN is an add-on placed during a scar laser session and is not sold as a treatment of its own.

To get a usable estimate before you travel, send the clinic the scar type, its length or the area involved, and how many sessions you are prepared to plan for. The total in your quote is built from those three things.