Non-Surgical · Energy Lifting

HIFU Lifting

The category, read by a plastic surgeon

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

HIFU Lifting HIFU Lifting HIFU Lifting HIFU Lifting HIFU Lifting HIFU Lifting 
Define

HIFU lifting

What does HIFU actually mean?

The short answer

HIFU stands for high-intensity focused ultrasound. Sound energy is focused to a point below the surface, the way light is focused through a lens: the skin it passes through is left intact, while the tissue at the focal point is heated enough to contract and to trigger new collagen. It is a category of treatment, not a single machine, and the machines inside it differ from each other more than the marketing suggests.

Source: Rewind's own device documentation, Korean original. The clinic's ultrasound platform is described there as delivering energy to the deep fascial layer without damaging the surface, for wrinkle improvement, firmness and a cleaner facial line.

Patients arrive asking for HIFU the way they might ask for antibiotics: a category name standing in for a decision that has not been made yet. Which device, at which depth, over which area, and whether ultrasound is even the right energy for the face in question are four separate questions.

This page is the map. Rewind's ultrasound treatment has a page of its own, and so does each of the other energy devices held here; what follows is how the category works and how to tell one offer from another.

Consultation room at Rewind Plastic Surgery, Apgujeong
Fig. 01 — Where the device question is settled: the consultation room
Menu

The lifting menu

What sits under the energy-lifting umbrella at Rewind

Four kinds of energy are held in the same clinic, and they are not interchangeable. Knowing which family a treatment belongs to tells you more about what it can do than any brand name does.

family 01
Focused ultrasound — HIFU
Energy converged on the deep fascial layer. At Rewind this is the imaging-guided ultrasound platform, planned in lines and detailed on its own Ultherapy Prime page.
family 02
Microwave — Max Wave
Microwave energy with a cooling system, quoted in joules. Rewind lists it for lifting and firmness with strong cooling, and it also appears in the clinic's V-line package.
family 03
Radiofrequency
Heat made by resistance in the dermis, counted in shots. Two monopolar platforms and a needle-delivered system sit under this heading.
family 04
Mechanical anchoring
Absorbable threads that hold tissue where it is placed. No energy at all, and the answer when laxity has outrun what heat can hold.

Rewind holds seven lifting devices in total: the ultrasound platform, two radiofrequency systems, microneedling radiofrequency, microwave, InMode and a picosecond laser. Which one is named in your plan is decided after the examination.

Read

How to read an offer

How to read a HIFU plan before you agree to it

HIFU is sold in units, and the units are where most of the confusion lives. Four things decide what a quote is actually worth, and all four can be asked about in plain language at the desk.

01Unit

HIFU is priced by the count, so find the count

Ultrasound plans are sold in lines, microwave plans in joules, radiofrequency in shots. A price with no count attached is not a price. Rewind publishes the count beside every plan, and the figure on your quote should match the figure on the plan you were shown.

02Depth

Depth is a choice made during the HIFU session

Focused ultrasound systems carry cartridges that concentrate energy at different levels, from superficial dermis down to the fascial plane. Which levels your face receives, and over which zones, is an operator decision taken against your anatomy.

03Sight

Some systems show the layer, some work blind

Imaging-guided ultrasound puts the tissue layers on a screen before a line is delivered, so depth is chosen against what is there. Over bone, over implants and on thin skin, that difference stops being academic.

04Judgement

What the count never tells you about a lifting plan

A large number of lines placed in the wrong face buys nothing. The diagnosis in front of the machine decides the result, and it is the part of the offer no price list can show you.

Energy-device session in a treatment room at Rewind Plastic Surgery
Fig. 02 — In the device-lifting room on the treatment floor
Rewind

Why here

Why take a HIFU question to a plastic surgery clinic

A clinic that owns one lifting machine has one recommendation available to it. Rewind is a single-surgeon practice built around lifting, with the surgical option in the same building, so the category question can be answered before the device question is asked.

01Category

Whether energy lifting is the right family at all

Dr. Choi examines the face and says which tissue is causing the complaint. Some faces are a skin problem, some are a fat problem, some have descended past the point where any energy holds them. The first answer is a category, and only then a machine.

02Inventory

Seven devices remove the incentive to oversell one

Ultrasound, radiofrequency, microneedling radiofrequency, microwave, InMode and a picosecond laser are all in the room. When the honest recommendation is the cheaper plan, nothing in the inventory argues against saying so.

03Follow-through

One surgeon carries the lifting plan through review

The person who set your plan is the person who reads the result at follow-up. International patients are supported in their own language from the first enquiry through to that appointment.

Dr. Jonghwan Choi discussing a treatment plan with a patient at Rewind Plastic Surgery
Fig. 03 — The category question is settled at the consultation
Visit

In the treatment room

What a HIFU appointment involves at Rewind

Treatment floor at Rewind Plastic Surgery, Gangnam, Seoul

Fig. 04 — The treatment floor

Waiting lounge at Rewind Plastic Surgery, Richro Building, Apgujeong

Fig. 05 — The waiting lounge, fourth floor

The clinic occupies the fourth and fifth floors of the Richro Building in Apgujeong. A visit opens with the medical director examining the face and naming the device and the count; the session follows in the device room on the same floors. Rewind works by appointment only and consults Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday between 10:00 and 19:00 and on Saturday between 10:00 and 16:00, which is what most patients who are in Seoul for work plan around.

Focused ultrasound, imaging-guided platform
Microwave lifting quoted in joules
Radiofrequency plans quoted in shots
No incision and no implanted material
Device and count set by Dr. Jonghwan Choi
Daily activity possible the same day

Ask to see the device you are paying for and the manufacturer documentation that belongs to it. Rewind displays the certificate issued for its ultrasound platform in the clinic and holds manufacturer certificates for its device line-up; anywhere in the world, a clinic that will not show you that paperwork has told you something. Anaesthesia and session length are not published for these treatments, so ask for both when you book.

Result

Before & After

Why this page shows no case photographs yet

Rewind photographs its own patients under identical lighting and releases pairs treatment by treatment. None have been released for energy lifting, so the frames below hold their place until they are.

HIFU lifting — case pairs

BEFORE PHOTO
AFTER PHOTO
BEFOREAFTER
case — energy lifting
HIFU lifting
Individual results may vary.
BEFORE PHOTO
AFTER PHOTO
BEFOREAFTER
case — energy lifting
HIFU lifting
Individual results may vary.
BEFORE PHOTO
AFTER PHOTO
BEFOREAFTER
case — energy lifting
HIFU lifting
Individual results may vary.
BEFORE PHOTO
AFTER PHOTO
BEFOREAFTER
case — energy lifting
HIFU lifting
Individual results may vary.

Any pair published here will be a Rewind patient, photographed uncropped under matched lighting, with the device and the count named beside it. Individual results may vary; the degree of change from an energy treatment depends on skin condition, age and how much laxity was there to begin with. Redness or brief swelling can follow a session.

Cost

Pricing

What HIFU and energy lifting cost in Seoul

Rewind publishes one rate per plan, and each plan carries the count it is sold in. The microwave plans below are quoted in joules; the ultrasound plan is quoted in lines and is set out in full on its own page.

Max Wave 100,000 JMicrowave lifting with cooling; entry plan
₩360,000
Max Wave 150,000 JMid plan; coverage set at consultation
₩500,000
Max Wave 200,000 JExtended plan on the same device
₩660,000
Focused ultrasound, 300 linesThe HIFU plan itself; full detail on the Ultherapy Prime page
₩1,300,000

List prices, VAT excluded; anaesthetic fees are included in the listed price where anaesthesia is used. Body plans on the microwave device are listed separately at the same joule counts, and plans that combine two devices are quoted once the doctor has examined the area. Nothing on this list carries a traveller's mark-up.

Fit

Suitability

Who energy lifting suits, and who gets turned away

The category has a real ceiling. Saying where it sits is more useful to a patient flying in for a week than any list of benefits.

Where a HIFU plan does its job

  • Skin that has softened at the jaw line but has not descended, and still springs back when pressed
  • Fine wrinkles and early loss of firmness, in skin with elasticity left to work with
  • A patient who wants lifting without an operation and without time away from work
  • Maintenance after an earlier course, with the interval set by the doctor against what the skin has done since

Where the answer is not a device

  • Heavy, descended tissue and deep folds, where a lift is the treatment that matches the problem and the doctor will say so
  • Very thin or depleted faces, where tightening alone can read as gaunt
  • Submental fullness that is fat and platysma, not loose skin
  • Recent filler, threads or another energy session in the same area
  • Pregnancy, breastfeeding, active skin infection at the site, or an implanted electronic device
After

Recovery

The two days after a lifting session, and the months after that

Rewind's aftercare for device lifting is deliberately short. Bruising or swelling can appear and settles within a few days, and ordinary activity carries on from the moment you leave.

Same day
Out and about
Normal activity is possible immediately. Sauna, hard exercise and alcohol are left for another day.
Day 1–2
No pressure
Do not rub or press the treated area. Any bruising or swelling subsides over the following days.
First weeks
Moisture and shade
Keep moisturising, and use sun protection without exception while the skin is responding.
Months on
Where the change accrues
Collagen keeps responding after the session. Rewind records device lifting results lasting from six months to more than a year, depending on skin condition and on the plan used.

Focused ultrasound carries documented risks: temporary redness, swelling, bruising, tenderness, numbness and altered sensation, with nerve irritation and uneven or unwanted tissue loss reported less often in the published complication literature. Tell the doctor about every injection, thread and device session the treated area has had before yours.

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, thread-lifting session

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
Voices

Google Reviews

What our patients say.

G 5.0 ★★★★★ 12 Google reviews · Rewind Plastic Surgery, Apgujeong — live-synced from Google Business Profile

"Sample review card — at launch this section pulls the clinic's real Google reviews automatically, shown verbatim with the reviewer's initial and posting date."

AReviewer namePOSTED ON GOOGLE

"Sample review card — reviews are never written or edited by the clinic; only what patients posted on Google appears here."

BReviewer namePOSTED ON GOOGLE

"Sample review card — a 'See all reviews on Google' link takes visitors to the clinic's Business Profile."

CReviewer namePOSTED ON GOOGLE
Ask

Questions

HIFU in Korea — questions worth asking before you book

What does HIFU stand for, and is every HIFU machine the same?
High-intensity focused ultrasound. The principle is shared, the hardware is not: systems differ in the depths they can focus at, in whether the operator can see the tissue layers while treating, and in how the plan is counted. Two quotes using the same three letters can describe very different treatments.
Is HIFU the same thing as radiofrequency or microwave lifting?
No. Focused ultrasound converges energy on a deep plane, radiofrequency heats the dermis through electrical resistance, and microwave devices such as the Max Wave deliver energy with surface cooling. Rewind holds all three families and treats them as separate decisions.
How is a HIFU plan counted and priced in Seoul?
Ultrasound plans are sold by lines, microwave plans by joules and radiofrequency by shots. Rewind's published list shows the count beside every plan. If a quote anywhere gives you a price with no count attached, ask for the count before you compare it with anything.
Which ultrasound device does Rewind use?
The clinic's focused-ultrasound platform is an imaging-guided system, set out in full on its own page, and the certificate issued for it is displayed in the clinic. It is one of seven lifting devices held here.
Does focused ultrasound work on the body as well as the face?
Focused ultrasound has been studied on body sites including the arm, thigh and knee, and the clinic lists body plans on its microwave device at the same joule counts as the facial plans. Whether a body area is worth treating is a judgement made at examination.
How many sessions will I need, and how often?
Rewind publishes no fixed course. The interval is set by the doctor against what your skin has done since the last session, and the clinic records device lifting results lasting from six months to over a year, so returning sooner than that is rarely the plan.
Clinics advertise "genuine" devices. What should I actually check?
Ask to see the device itself and the manufacturer documentation issued for it, and ask which consumable the session uses and what count is on it. Rewind displays the certificate for its ultrasound platform and holds manufacturer certificates for its line-up.
Is a very cheap HIFU package a warning sign?
It depends entirely on what the number counts. A low price with a low line count is arithmetic, and a low price with no count stated is a question you have not asked yet. Compare count against count, on devices of the same family.
What can go wrong with focused ultrasound?
The complication literature reports temporary redness, swelling, bruising, tenderness, numbness and altered sensation, with nerve irritation and uneven or unwanted tissue loss appearing less often. Treatment over implants, fillers or previously treated tissue needs to be declared before the plan is written.
Will HIFU fix a heavy, descended jaw line?
Past a certain point, no. Energy tightens tissue that still has elasticity; where skin and deeper layers have already descended, the doctor will say that a lift is the treatment that matches the problem and will explain what that involves.
Can ultrasound, radiofrequency and threads be combined in one plan?
They often are, in an order and an interval the doctor sets after examining the face. Combination plans are quoted after that examination, and Rewind also builds firming packages that pair a device plan with injectable treatments.
I am in Seoul for work. When can a session be booked?
Rewind consults Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 10:00 to 19:00 and on Saturday from 10:00 to 16:00, and works by appointment only, so the slot has to be reserved in advance. Daily activity is possible straight after a device session, and the last slots of the day fill with people treating it as an errand on the way home.
Booking

Reservation

REWIND,booking

Tell us what you are considering — we reply within one business day, in your language.

By sending this inquiry you agree that Rewind Plastic Surgery may use the details above to contact you about your consultation. We keep them only for that purpose.

Scientific evidence

What the focused-ultrasound literature actually reports

These six papers cover the category: a systematic review, a clinical overview, the early work on how focused ultrasound injures tissue precisely, a prospective neck and lower-face study, a safety study in Asian skin and a complication series. They describe devices, settings and patients that are not Rewind's, and no individual outcome can be read from them.