Non-Surgical · Contour Injection

Fat Dissolving Injection

A contour decision measured in centimetres of jaw line, never in kilograms

Gangnam, Seoul | Board-certified plastic surgeon, Dr. Jonghwan Choi
KHIDI-registered for international patients · Apgujeong Rewind

Contour Injection Contour Injection Contour Injection Contour Injection Contour Injection 
Define

Fat dissolving injection

Fat dissolving injection: what the syringe is being asked to do

The short answer

A fat dissolving injection places a lipolytic preparation into a defined pocket of subcutaneous fat so that fat cells in that pocket break down and their contents are carried out of the body. Rewind's Korean page calls the treatment a contour injection and describes it as reducing unwanted fat and fluid retention to make the line of the face lighter and better defined, working on the heaviness around the cheeks, the under-chin and the jaw line. The clinic's own material states that no anaesthesia is used and that there are no stitches to remove.

Source: Rewind's own treatment documentation. The exact composition of the preparation is described there only as a substance acting on fat cells, so this page does not name an active ingredient. Appointment length is not stated here either. Both belong to the consultation, where the product can be identified to you directly.

Two things about that description deserve emphasis, because they decide whether this treatment is right for you. The first is locality. The injection works where the needle goes and nowhere else; an area of fat that is deliberately reduced on your jaw line has no effect on the number on a scale. This is a contour treatment and it belongs in no conversation about body weight, appetite or metabolism.

The second is the unit of purchase. Rewind's Korean page states that the clearest change generally appears after two to three sessions, varying with how much fat is present. So a single appointment is a step in a short plan. Anyone quoting you a face on the strength of one syringe is describing something the clinic's own material does not claim.

There is also a route this treatment is frequently confused with. Removing under-chin fat surgically, by double chin liposuction, is a single operative event with its own candidacy, its own recovery and its own page. The comparison between the two is a genuine decision, and it is set out further down, because patients who understand the difference choose better than patients who were sold whichever one they walked past first.

Jaw line assessment during consultation at Rewind Plastic Surgery, Apgujeong
Fig. 01 — Where the heaviness actually sits is decided at the desk, not at the syringe
Zones

Where it is placed

The parts of the face a contour injection is aimed at

Rewind's page lists the regions it treats and the kind of patient it suits, and the two lists overlap almost completely. Heaviness that reads as a blurred line, in a defined pocket, in someone who does not want an operation. The four zones below follow that material.

zone 01
Under the chin
The submental pad that blurs the line between jaw and neck. The zone patients raise most often and the one the published literature examines most closely.
zone 02
Along the jaw line
Fullness sitting over the border of the jaw itself, which is what turns a defined edge into a soft transition in photographs.
zone 03
Cheek fullness
The heaviness in the lower cheek that Rewind's page describes as making a face read as larger and blunter than its underlying structure.
zone 04
Fluid retention with the fat
The clinic lists puffiness and retained fluid as improving alongside the fat itself, so a share of the early change is fluid and nothing more.

That last card is the one to read twice. Part of what shifts in the first weeks is fluid, and fluid comes back if the reason for it has not changed. Fat cells broken down in a treated pocket are a slower and more durable part of the picture, and separating those two components carefully at the review is the difference between a satisfied patient and one who feels the treatment stopped working. Rewind's material also names its assessment tools by function: an ultrasound scan used to read fat thickness, deeper fat and the salivary gland, and a facial contour analyser used to record height, contour, lines and hollowing before a plan is designed.

Mechanism

How it works

What happens in a treated pocket after a contour injection

Four steps, and this clinic's own position sits in the fourth. The first three describe the mechanism; the fourth describes how much of that mechanism the published record can actually vouch for in the product used here.

01Mapping

The pocket is identified before anything is drawn up

Rewind's material describes using ultrasound to read the thickness of the fat, distinguish superficial from deep fat and identify the salivary gland, together with a facial contour analyser that records the surface. Fullness under a jaw is not always fat; a prominent gland or a slack muscle band can produce the same silhouette and will not respond to a lipolytic at all.

02Delivery

Many small deposits across the layer, closely spaced

The clinic describes injecting the preparation densely through the unwanted fat layer. Spreading the dose across many small deposits is what allows a defined pocket to be treated evenly. The material also states plainly that this is done without anaesthesia and that no stitches are involved.

03Clearance

Broken-down cells leave through your own circulation

Rewind's description is that fat cells are destroyed and their contents excreted from the body, reducing the number of fat cells in the treated pocket. That process runs for weeks after you have left, so the appointment is judged at the review and never in the mirror on the way out. Swelling during that window is expected and is not the result.

04Evidence

What the literature covers, and where it stops

The strongest published work in this category examines deoxycholic acid under the chin: phase III trials, a large multicentre study and pooled analyses, all listed at the foot of this page. Work on phosphatidylcholine and deoxycholate formulations is more cautious, and one review asks in its title whether the risk is worth taking. Rewind's page does not disclose its formulation, so this clinic does not claim those trials as evidence for its own product. Ask at the consultation which preparation is being proposed for you.

Treatment room at Rewind Plastic Surgery, Richro Building, Apgujeong
Fig. 02 — The mapping decides the volume and the spacing, appointment by appointment
Rewind

Judgement

Why a plastic surgery clinic is careful with contour injections

This is the most over-prescribed item on any aesthetic price list, because it is cheap to buy, quick to give and easy to repeat. Three positions keep it in proportion here.

01Diagnosis

A full under-chin is four different problems wearing one silhouette

Superficial fat, deep fat beneath the muscle, a prominent salivary gland and a slack platysma band all produce the same outline in a mirror. Only the first answers well to an injection. Rewind's own workflow puts an ultrasound read of fat thickness, deep fat and the gland before the plan, and a patient whose fullness turns out to be gland or muscle is told so at that point.

02Proportion

Two to three sessions, then a decision, not an open subscription

The clinic's material puts the clearest change after two to three sessions, depending on how much fat is present. That number is also a ceiling on patience. Where a short plan has not moved the line, the answer is to re-examine what the fullness is made of, and not to sell a fourth, fifth and sixth appointment against the same wrong diagnosis.

03Boundary

A surgeon will say when the injection is the weaker option

Dr. Jonghwan Choi performs under-chin surgery regularly, which makes him a poor salesman for an injection that cannot reach the volume in front of him. A large, dense pad or an outline driven by the muscle belongs to a surgical conversation. Being sent to that conversation is not an upsell; it is the alternative to paying repeatedly for an undersized tool.

Private consultation space at Rewind Plastic Surgery, Apgujeong
Fig. 03 — The plan is re-read against the face at every review
Room

On the day

A contour injection appointment at the Apgujeong clinic

Treatment room on the clinic floor at Rewind Plastic Surgery

Fig. 04 — A treatment room on the clinic floor

Patient lounge at Rewind Plastic Surgery, Apgujeong

Fig. 05 — Where early swelling is allowed to settle before you go

The face is cleansed and the area is read again against what the mapping showed, because a jaw line does not look the same lying down as it did sitting upright at the desk. The zone is marked, and the deposits are placed across the layer in a close pattern. Rewind's material states that no anaesthesia is used for this treatment and that there are no stitches afterwards. Most patients describe a stinging that arrives with the injection and fades quickly. Appointments run on the fourth and fifth floors of the Richro Building in Gangnam, Seoul, by appointment, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 10:00 to 19:00 and on Saturday from 10:00 to 16:00.

Lipolytic preparation, injected into fat
No anaesthesia used
No stitches, nothing to remove afterwards
Ultrasound read of fat thickness and gland
Facial contour analysis recorded beforehand
Plan reviewed before any repeat appointment

You will be swollen leaving the room and that swelling is part of the treatment working, so nothing about the result can be judged on the day. Photographs taken at the clinic are repeated at the review under the same lighting, which is the only way a change of this size can be told apart from a change of camera angle.

Record

Case photography

Contour injection photographs: the frames Rewind is holding open

No consented case series for this treatment has been released, and the cards below stay empty until one exists. Jaw line photography is unusually easy to fake without meaning to: a chin lifted two centimetres, a camera moved slightly higher and a different shirt collar will produce a visible improvement on a face that has had nothing done to it.

Contour injection — case pairs

BEFORE PHOTO
AFTER PHOTO
BEFOREAFTER
case — contour plan
Fat dissolving injection
Individual results may vary.
BEFORE PHOTO
AFTER PHOTO
BEFOREAFTER
case — contour plan
Fat dissolving injection
Individual results may vary.
BEFORE PHOTO
AFTER PHOTO
BEFOREAFTER
case — contour plan
Fat dissolving injection
Individual results may vary.
BEFORE PHOTO
AFTER PHOTO
BEFOREAFTER
case — contour plan
Fat dissolving injection
Individual results may vary.

When pairs are published they will state the number of appointments completed, the interval since the last one, the volume used and the date of each frame, shot at matched distance and matched lighting with the head in a fixed position. Written consent will be on file for every pair. No specific outcome can be promised from another patient's face, and individual results may vary.

Rates

Pricing

What a contour injection costs per appointment in Gangnam, Seoul

The first line is the published volume for facial contour work and it is priced per appointment, which matches how the treatment is actually bought. The second line is the device route to the same complaint, listed beside it because patients deciding between a syringe and a handpiece deserve to see both figures at once.

Facial contour injection, 15ccPublished volume, priced per appointment
₩150,000
Device route — InMode FXRadiofrequency aimed at fat in the same regions, per appointment
₩250,000

VAT is charged on top of both figures and anaesthesia costs are already counted inside the published rates, which in the case of the injection is a formality, since the clinic's material states that none is used. Larger volumes and combinations with other treatments carry their own lines and are quoted at the consultation once the mapping is done; no total for a plan is issued before then, because the number of appointments is the term that moves. Surgical removal of under-chin fat is priced separately and appears on its own page.

Fit

Suitability

Choosing between an injection and the surgical route under the chin

This is the decision the treatment lives or dies by, so it is set out as two lists. The left-hand column is where the syringe is the better tool. The right-hand column is where it is turned down, and several of those entries send a patient to double chin liposuction instead.

The injection is usually the better tool

  • A modest, soft pocket of fat in a defined zone, confirmed on the mapping as superficial
  • Patients unwilling to accept an operation, a compression garment or a recovery period
  • A jaw line that reads as blurred in photographs while the underlying structure is sound
  • Someone who accepts a short plan of appointments and a review before any repeat
  • Travellers who can return for a second appointment, or continue with a clinician at home

Reasons the doctor declines or redirects

  • A large or dense pad where the volume exceeds what repeated injections will sensibly reach
  • Fullness the ultrasound attributes to the salivary gland or to deep fat beneath the muscle
  • An outline driven by a slack platysma band, where tightening and not dissolving is the answer
  • Loose skin that will be left unsupported once volume beneath it is reduced
  • Pregnancy or breastfeeding, active infection over the site, or a bleeding or clotting disorder under treatment
  • Anyone asking for this as a weight treatment, which it is not and has never been
After

Recovery

The days after a contour injection, and what they ask of you

Rewind's own aftercare for this treatment is four instructions long and each one has a reason behind it. The cards follow that instruction sheet; the paragraph beneath them names the risks in full.

Straight after
Ordinary activity resumes
The clinic states that normal daily life is possible immediately afterwards. You will be swollen while doing it, and that is part of the expected course.
First day
No alcohol, sauna or hard exercise
All three are ruled out for one day on the clinic's instruction. Each drives circulation through a site that has just been given a reason to swell.
Early days
Nothing rubbed, nothing pressed
The treated area is not to be rubbed or compressed. Massaging a site that feels lumpy is the most common self-inflicted problem in this category.
Two to three days
Light swelling settles
Rewind's sheet puts mild swelling as improving within two to three days, and describes slight puffiness or a stinging soreness as settling within a few days.

The risk list belongs in plain sight. Rewind's page records swelling and a stinging soreness resolving within days. Beyond that, the recognised profile for injectable lipolysis includes bruising, firm nodules under the skin that take weeks to soften, numbness over the treated zone, tenderness on pressure, and asymmetry where one side responds faster than the other. The serious end of the list is rare and is documented: a published systematic review of serious adverse events after deoxycholic acid injection for under-chin and jowl fat describes skin ulceration and tissue injury at injection sites, and weakness of the marginal mandibular nerve producing a temporarily uneven smile. A separate review of phosphatidylcholine and deoxycholate formulations questions the risk profile directly in its title. Those papers are listed below. Any area that hardens and keeps hardening, any skin that discolours or breaks down, any asymmetry of the smile and any fever are reasons to contact the clinic the same day, ahead of the next appointment.

Doctor

Professional

At Rewind, one board-certified plastic surgeon carries every case — from the first consultation to the final follow-up. Because a face is a story, and a story deserves a single author.

Dr. Jonghwan Choi, board-certified plastic surgeonRewind,
Dr. Jonghwan Choi presenting at an academic session
Fig. 06 — Academic presentation

Rewind's Doctor

Dr. Jonghwan Choi Medical Director

One surgeon, from the first
consultation to the last follow-up.

A board-certified plastic surgeon devoted to anti-aging lifting — with the precision and restraint built through years of craniofacial practice.

Board-certified plastic surgeon (Plastic Surgery)
10 peer-reviewed publications
Medical Director, Rewind Plastic Surgery
Korean Society of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeons
Former chief director, Apgujeong Y&T Plastic Surgery
Korean Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery
J Craniofac Surg · JKMS · Arch Craniofac Surg
Korean Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association
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Ask

Questions

Contour injection questions from patients planning a Seoul visit

What is a fat dissolving injection in practice?
A lipolytic preparation injected across a defined pocket of subcutaneous fat. Rewind describes it as reducing unwanted fat and fluid retention so the line of the face reads lighter and sharper, working on the cheeks, under-chin and jaw line. Fat cells in the treated pocket break down and their contents leave through your circulation.
Will it make me lose weight?
No, and it is not intended to. The effect is confined to the pocket the needle reaches. Body weight, appetite and metabolism are untouched by it, and any page presenting facial contour injections as a weight treatment is describing something else entirely.
How many appointments does a plan usually run to?
Rewind's material puts the clearest change after two to three sessions, varying with how much fat is present. That figure is the clinic's own and is treated here as a ceiling on patience as much as a plan: where a short course has not moved the line, the diagnosis is re-examined before anything is repeated.
Does it hurt, and is anything used to numb it?
The clinic's material states that no anaesthesia is used for this treatment and that there are no stitches afterwards. Most people describe a stinging that comes with the injection and fades quickly, followed by swelling and a pressure-tender feeling over the treated zone for a few days.
How does this compare with surgical removal of under-chin fat?
Volume and permanence of the appointment, mainly. Liposuction removes a quantity of fat in one operative event, with recovery and a compression period attached. Injections work in stages on a smaller pocket, with no downtime worth the name. The mapping decides which is the right size of tool for the pad in front of you.
What if my fullness turns out not to be fat?
Then the injection is declined. Rewind's assessment uses an ultrasound read of fat thickness, deep fat and the salivary gland precisely so this is caught early. A prominent gland, deep fat beneath the muscle or a slack platysma band produce the same outline and respond to different treatments.
What is actually in the injection?
Rewind's page describes it only as a substance acting on fat cells and does not disclose the formulation, so no active ingredient is named on this page. Ask at the consultation, where the product can be identified to you directly, and ask what published evidence exists for that specific preparation.
Does the published evidence support this category?
Partly and unevenly. Deoxycholic acid under the chin carries phase III trials and pooled analyses, all cited at the foot of this page. Phosphatidylcholine and deoxycholate formulations are treated more cautiously in the literature, including one review that questions the risk in its title.
Is the change permanent once the fat cells are gone?
Fat cells cleared from a treated pocket do not return, but the ones left behind can still enlarge if body weight rises, and a share of the early improvement is fluid, which behaves differently. The realistic framing is a durable contribution to the contour that still depends on what happens afterwards.
What does one appointment cost?
The published volume for facial contour work is priced per appointment in the pricing section above, alongside the device route to the same complaint. VAT is charged separately on top. Larger volumes and combinations are quoted at the consultation once the area has been mapped.
What can go wrong?
Swelling, bruising, tenderness, firm nodules that take weeks to soften, numbness over the zone and uneven response between sides. Rarely, published reviews of deoxycholic acid injection describe skin ulceration at injection sites and temporary weakness of the nerve that controls the lower lip, producing an uneven smile.
Can I fit a plan into one trip to Korea?
One appointment fits easily, since there is no meaningful downtime, but a two to three session plan is spaced and rarely completes inside a single short visit. Interpreter-assisted consultation is arranged for international patients and the clinic is KHIDI-registered for them.
Booking

Reservation

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Scientific evidence

Injectable lipolysis under the chin: trials, pooled data and the risk reviews

These six papers cover the whole arc of this treatment category. Two laboratory studies establish which component of an injectable formulation does the work and how selectively it acts on fatty tissue. Two clinical trials, one European phase III and one multicentre phase 3 programme, measure what a deoxycholic acid injection achieves under the chin against placebo. The final two are the reason the risk paragraph above is written as it is: a systematic review of serious adverse events with management recommendations, and a review asking directly whether phosphatidylcholine and deoxycholate injection is worth the risk it carries. All of them concern deoxycholic acid or phosphatidylcholine preparations and none was carried out at Rewind Plastic Surgery, which is also why this page declines to present them as evidence for a formulation the clinic has not disclosed.