About Dr. Young Jun Kim: Questions and Answers

Yes. Dr. Kim holds the specialist qualification in plastic surgery in the Republic of Korea, which the Ministry of Health and Welfare grants after residency training and a national board examination. He completed that residency at Chonnam National University. In Korea a clinic name that contains "plastic surgery" does not by itself mean that every doctor working there holds this qualification, so asking about it is a reasonable step for any patient. His records are collected on the research and credentials page.

He graduated from Chonnam National University Medical School with a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree. Chonnam National University is a national university based in Gwangju, in the south-west of Korea. He stayed at the same university for the rest of his academic training: his plastic surgery residency, his master's degree in medicine and, later, a clinical professorship in plastic surgery. His 2013 paper lists the university's Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery as his affiliation.

He completed his plastic surgery residency at Chonnam National University. A Korean plastic surgery residency is several years of supervised hospital training that covers reconstructive and aesthetic surgery of the face and body, followed by the national specialist examination. For facial work, residency is where a surgeon sees the layers of the face directly: the skin, the fat compartments, the SMAS, the retaining ligaments and the nerves. Dr. Kim draws on that anatomy when he plans non-surgical lifting today.

Yes. After his residency he served as a clinical professor of plastic surgery at Chonnam National University. A clinical professorship is a university appointment that typically combines treating patients with teaching, rather than a purely research post. He later moved to private practice in Seoul, where he directed plastic surgery clinics before becoming Medical Director of Violacell Plastic Surgery. The appointment is listed among his credentials on the clinic's own doctor profile and on this website.

He holds a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) from Chonnam National University Medical School and a Master of Science in Medicine from Chonnam National University Graduate School, awarded in 2013. The master's degree required a research thesis, which he wrote on how Koreans value facial appearance as a function of the face. The same question became the subject of his peer-reviewed paper in Archives of Plastic Surgery that year, so the degree and the publication are two parts of one piece of work.

His master's thesis examined the importance of appearance as a function of the face in Koreans. It was submitted to Chonnam National University Graduate School in August 2013, was written in English, and was supervised by Prof. Kwang Seog Kim, who is also a co-author of the journal paper on the same topic. The thesis is listed in RISS, the Korean national academic research database. Its central idea, that appearance is a genuine function of the face rather than vanity, still shapes how Dr. Kim discusses treatment.

Dr. Kim is in his 16th year of practice as a plastic surgeon (as of 2026). That span includes his specialist training and clinical professorship at Chonnam National University, his years directing plastic surgery clinics in Seoul, and his current role as Medical Director of Violacell Plastic Surgery. Years of practice alone do not show how a doctor plans treatment, so this website also sets out his training, research and own explanations, so that you can judge his approach directly.

He completed an advanced rhinoplasty workshop at UT Southwestern in Dallas, Texas. A workshop of this kind is a short course of advanced training for practicing surgeons, not a residency or fellowship, and it is listed that way on this website. Rhinoplasty is not among the treatments he provides at Violacell, where his practice is non-surgical. The workshop is part of his surgical education, alongside his residency and clinical professorship in Korea.

He is a full member of the Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, the Korean Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, the Korean Association for Cranio-Maxillo-Facial Surgery and the Korean Association of Plastic Surgeons. He is also a full member of a Korean anti-aging research society and a member of the minimally invasive surgery study group of the Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons. Membership of national societies reflects ongoing participation in the specialty's scientific meetings and training.

Yes. He is a full member of the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) and an international member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). ISAPS is a worldwide society of aesthetic plastic surgeons, and the ASPS offers international membership to plastic surgeons trained and certified outside the United States. These memberships sit alongside his Korean specialist qualification, which is the qualification that allows him to practice as a plastic surgeon in Korea.

He practices at Violacell Plastic Surgery, 3F, 138 Dosan-daero, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, where he is Medical Director. The clinic is about four minutes on foot from Exit 1 of Sinsa Station (Line 3 and the Shinbundang Line), and there is parking with valet service in the building. The main phone line is +82-2-518-9119. Directions, opening hours and what to bring to a first consultation are on the clinic page.

He is the clinic's Medical Director and is listed as its representative. In practice that means the clinic's treatment approach reflects his choices: its non-surgical focus, and the way lifting is planned around the layers of the face. The consultation is held in person, and at the first visit Dr. Kim examines the face, asks about earlier procedures and medical history, and explains which options suit the findings, along with their limits and risks, before any plan is made.

Violacell Plastic Surgery held a soft opening on 26 December 2024 and opened officially on 2 January 2025, according to a news report published when the clinic was preparing to open. Dr. Kim gave an interview for that report, and several of his statements from it are quoted on this website because they describe the approach he still follows: looking at both the inside and the outside of the tissue, and weighing procedures and surgery together for each patient.

Before founding Violacell he was a director at two plastic surgery clinics in Seoul: BRAUN Plastic Surgery in Sinsa-dong and Liting Plastic Surgery, Seoul branch, where public records list him from at least 2021 until 2024. Before moving to private practice he trained and worked at Chonnam National University, completing his plastic surgery residency there and serving as a clinical professor of plastic surgery. These positions are listed with sources on the about page.

No. At Violacell Plastic Surgery his practice is non-surgical: Ulthera and Ultherapy PRIME, Sculptra, and Thermage with Re2O. He is a plastic surgeon trained in facial surgery, and he will tell you plainly when a facelift, forehead lift, eyelid surgery or liposuction would serve you better than another device session, but he does not perform those operations there. The surgery pages on this website are guides to help you judge whether you need surgery, as explained in surgery or non-surgical lifting.

Dr. Kim has explained his reasoning in his own words. When the clinic opened he said that in practice few doctors who perform aesthetic treatments look at both the inside and the outside of the tissue, and that for the patient's sake procedures and surgery should be weighed together. He also said a doctor should look at what the patient needs rather than being confined to one specialty. His surgical training is what lets him judge, from the inside, where a non-surgical treatment can work and where it cannot.

Yes, in the sense that he can examine your face and tell you which layer has changed and whether surgery looks like the more realistic answer. Because he trained in facial surgery, he can explain what a mini facelift, facelift, forehead lift, eyelid surgery or liposuction would and would not change for you. If surgery is the right choice, the operation itself and its detailed planning would be done with a surgeon who performs it. The guides on this website cover each of these operations.

He was invited to the Asia launch of Ultherapy PRIME, held at the Grand Hyatt Seoul in 2025, and he writes that invitations for doctors in Korea were limited to 50. Violacell Plastic Surgery offers both the established Ulthera system and Ultherapy PRIME. In his columns written after the launch he described what the newer system changes and what it does not, which is summarised in the next answer and on the Ulthera page.

He writes that the key change is image resolution: the earlier device showed deep layers less clearly, and because the depth of the supporting layer, the position of fat and the shape of the deep cheek differ between people, seeing deep tissue clearly matters. The clinic's comparison notes imaging to about 8 mm with PRIME. He adds that the screen is larger, touch response faster and noise lower, that pain with the 4.5 mm depth is reduced, and that the actual energy delivery time is unchanged.

Yes. In April 2026 he spoke at the HILO WAVE launch symposium in Busan, with a lecture titled "Dual-HA collagen booster injection code: a strategic approach that plans the lift first while keeping natural volume." In August 2026 he gave a theory lecture at the DEEP Symposium in Seoul, hosted by Daewoong Pharmaceutical and DNC Aesthetics, on stepwise combination treatment for skin quality and contouring, to about 100 clinicians. Both were events organised by product companies.

Coverage of his HILO WAVE lecture described it as an injection strategy built around each person's facial skeleton and tissue layers, aiming to maximise lift while keeping volume natural. He was quoted as saying that, from a plastic surgeon's perspective, such a booster allows treatment to be designed around the structural balance and movement of the whole face, and that "a precise injection strategy grounded in anatomical understanding allows a more stable and natural approach."

He spoke at THE ORIGINAL SCULPTRA Master Summit held by Galderma Korea at the Conrad Seoul in January 2026. There he explained that skin aging is driven mainly by a loss of structural components such as collagen and fat cells, that Sculptra works by regenerating that structure and promoting elasticity, and that because the effect takes time to appear, patients feel the volume return gradually and find it natural. Sculptra is one of his three main treatments at Violacell.

In his answers to patients he explains that for fine wrinkles and skin elasticity, radiofrequency devices such as Thermage are better suited to building collagen in the dermis than focused ultrasound, which works deeper. He describes the effect of Thermage as typically lasting around ten months to a year. He has also described combining a moderate Ulthera session with a moderate Thermage session as a reasonable approach for lighter maintenance, with each device aimed at the layer it suits.

In a column on Elravie Re2O he describes it as a skin booster based on human acellular dermal matrix (hADM), the same kind of structural material that supports the skin, made by L&C Bio. He writes that it can be combined with focused ultrasound or radiofrequency so that lifting and dermal repair happen together, typically over about three sessions three to four weeks apart, with numbing cream. Re2O is regulated in Korea as a human tissue product and is not FDA-approved. See his view on Re2O.

He has written that collagen-stimulating injections, Sculptra included, carry a rare risk of serious vascular complications that have been reported in the medical literature, so safety rules must be followed. In his writing on collagen stimulators he stresses avoiding highly mobile areas such as the lips and the area around the eyes, and placing product in the correct layer. He also describes choosing dilution by goal: more concentrated for volume, more diluted and spread wider for skin quality.

He writes that lasers, radiofrequency and focused ultrasound do not make collagen themselves; they trigger the body's own healing response, which then produces it. With repeated treatment and age, that regenerative capacity can fall, so the same device may seem to give less. He describes the repair timeline as a regenerative response over about four weeks, surface renewal by about three months, and new collagen forming for up to six months, which is why results are judged months later.

He writes that two people who both want a slimmer jawline may need different things: one needs the supporting layer (SMAS) lifted, while another is better served by reducing the fat layer. The size of the salivary glands and the amount of chewing muscle also shape the plan, because neither responds to lifting energy. This is why he examines the lower face on the ultrasound image and by touch before deciding where, and at which depth, energy should go.

In a 2025 news report on a skin booster introduced at Violacell, he was quoted as saying that anti-aging care should focus less on short-term improvement and more on improving the skin's own condition by increasing collagen within it. He also said that thorough consultation and a treatment plan tailored to each patient are what make a procedure effective. The same ideas appear in his columns, which emphasise reading the individual face before choosing any device or product.

He writes doctor's columns and signed answers to patient questions for Violacell Plastic Surgery, mostly in Korean, on Ulthera, Ultherapy PRIME, skin boosters including Re2O, collagen stimulators and lifting. On this website his statements are translated and attributed, and longer answers to common questions appear in the articles. Where a point on this site comes from his own writing, it is introduced with phrases such as "he writes" or "in his answers to patients."