Seoul
Chief MD, Gangnam
Duk-ha Kim
The trust our patients have placed in this clinic was built on conviction and principle. We intend to hold to both, unchanged, through the next hundred years.
Area-specific filler guide
Contouring Fillers
A contouring filler menu is sorted by treatment area rather than by product family, which is exactly why the approval question has to be asked area by area. In the U.S. the under-eye and the jawline each hold their own product approval — Restylane Eyelight was approved on 2023-05-08 for depressed, sunken or hollow areas under the eyes, and Juvéderm Volux XC on 2022-07-29 for correction of jawline definition — while the FDA describes unintentional injection into a blood vessel as the most concerning risk of any dermal filler.
- How the menu is sorted
- Hyaluronic acid products listed by treatment area — lips, under-eye, jawline
- U.S. under-eye approval
- Restylane Eyelight, approved 2023-05-08 — infraorbital hollowing, patients 21 and older
- U.S. jawline approval
- Juvéderm Volux XC, approved 2022-07-29 — correction of jawline definition
- Sites named as highest risk
- Glabella, nose and forehead — vessels there anastomose with the ophthalmic artery
What does a clinic mean by a design or contouring filler?
It names a way of arranging the menu. Instead of listing product families and letting you work out where each one goes, the clinic lists the area first — lips here, under-eye there — and puts beside it the product intended for that area. Menus written this way place a lip product and an under-eye product side by side, with Restylane Kysse and Restylane Eyelight appearing in that pattern, each sold by area and by syringe volume. The arrangement helps when you already know which area you want changed. It misleads if it suggests the products behind those areas are interchangeable, because what a filler may be used for is written product by product and area by area.
Sources: FDA — Dermal fillers (soft tissue fillers)FDA — Restylane Eyelight (P040024/S135)
Why does the approved use of a filler change from one area to the next?
Because an approval is written as an indication, and an indication names an area. The FDA describes absorbable soft tissue fillers as a group approved for moderate to severe facial wrinkles and skin folds and for lip, cheek and chin augmentation and the back of the hands — but that is the outer boundary of the category, not a permission held by any single syringe. The individual records are narrower. Restylane Eyelight, approved on 2023-05-08, names depressed, sunken or hollow areas under the eyes. Juvéderm Volux XC, approved on 2022-07-29, names correction of jawline definition. Belotero Balance, approved on 2011-11-14, names injection into the mid-to-deep dermis for correction of moderate-to-severe facial wrinkles and folds such as nasolabial folds, and its U.S. record states that use in the lips was not evaluated for safety and effectiveness. Three areas, three separate records, none of them granted to filler in general. All three are U.S. records; this page makes no statement about Korean approval, because its sources do not cover it.
Sources: FDA — Dermal fillers (soft tissue fillers)FDA — Restylane Eyelight (P040024/S135)FDA — Juvéderm Volux XC (P110033/S065)FDA PMA P090016 — Belotero Balance (Merz)
Why did the under-eye need an approval of its own?
Because nothing approved for a cheek or a fold carried over to it. Restylane Eyelight was approved in the U.S. on 2023-05-08 specifically for improving the appearance of depressed, sunken or hollow areas under the eyes — infraorbital hollowing — in patients 21 and older, and the approval records a study in which 333 subjects were treated in one or two sessions and assessed at 12 months. Read that as a boundary rather than as encouragement: it records that the under-eye was evaluated on its own terms, for patients above a stated age, on a stated schedule. The 12-month figure is what the approval page states; how that study was controlled or blinded is not something the sources here confirm, so it is not a duration to expect. The useful question for this area is which product is being proposed for it and under which registration where you are treated.
How do the jawline and the lips differ once you read the records?
They differ in what has actually been evaluated. The jawline has a U.S. record written in those exact words. On 2022-07-29, Juvéderm Volux XC received an approval whose indication is correction of jawline definition, for patients over 21 with moderate to severe loss of jawline definition; the approval page puts duration at up to 12 months and says more than one injection may be needed for optimal results. The lips sit differently. Lip augmentation appears inside the FDA description of what absorbable fillers as a category are approved for, yet Belotero Balance — a product holding a U.S. approval since 2011-11-14 — carries an explicit statement that use in the lips was not evaluated for safety and effectiveness. A category that mentions the lips and a product evaluated for the lips are two different things, and the second one is what a consultation should be about.
Sources: FDA — Juvéderm Volux XC (P110033/S065)FDA PMA P090016 — Belotero Balance (Merz)FDA — Dermal fillers (soft tissue fillers)
Does the vascular risk change depending on where the filler goes?
The risk is present everywhere and concentrated in particular places. The FDA states that the most concerning risk of a dermal filler is unintentional injection into a blood vessel, which can cause tissue death, vision abnormalities including blindness, and stroke; that description attaches to the injection itself, in any area. On top of that, a 2021 review in the Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology singles out three sites as carrying the highest risk — the glabella, the nose and the forehead — on the grounds that vessels in those areas anastomose with the ophthalmic artery. Those three are the named list, and it is worth being exact about it — a page that quietly adds an area to that list, or drops one from it, has stopped reporting the source. For an area-based menu the consequence is practical: ask where the needle passes, not only which area is being paid for.
Sources: FDA — Dermal fillers (soft tissue fillers)Murray G et al., J Clin Aesthet Dermatol 2021 — vascular occlusion management
What happens in the room if a vessel is involved?
The 2021 review sets out a response measured in minutes. Hyaluronidase 1,500 U is diluted in 1 mL of saline or lidocaine and infiltrated across the entire ischaemic area, and the dose is repeated at least hourly for as long as capillary refill takes longer than three seconds. The same review notes that retinal infarction can occur within 12 to 15 minutes. Two questions follow from that timing rather than from any brochure: is hyaluronidase held on site, and how quickly could you be seen again by the person who injected you? Both are worth asking before the appointment, and both matter more when the visit is part of a trip with a fixed departure date.
Sources: Murray G et al., J Clin Aesthet Dermatol 2021 — vascular occlusion management
What is a lump that appears long after the area has settled?
A delayed-onset nodule — the 2020 Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery – Global Open review puts them at 1.0% per patient. Bacterial biofilm, type IV hypersensitivity and foreign-body reaction are the causes it lists, and what is done next depends on which type it is — antibiotics or steroids for an inflammatory nodule, observation or hyaluronidase for a non-inflammatory one. That figure is per patient rather than per area, so it does not rank one area against another; what does change with the area is how visible a small nodule is and how hard it is to judge by touch. Keep a written record of every area treated, the product used and the date, and report a new lump instead of waiting to see whether it goes.
Sources: Philipp-Dormston WG et al., Plast Reconstr Surg Glob Open 2020;8(4):e2730 — delayed nodules
What product information should you have before the needle comes out?
Four items, all of them readable from a box or a record. The exact product name rather than the brand family. The registration covering that product where you are being treated. Whether the area you are paying for is named in that registration. And whether the packaging in the room matches what you were quoted. The FDA consumer material is what makes the last item ordinary rather than suspicious: it warns against dermal fillers sold directly to the public, which may be fake, contaminated, or not approved for use in the U.S. A product you cannot name afterwards is a product nobody can assess afterwards, which matters most if a nodule has to be judged weeks later.
Sources: FDA consumer update — Dermal filler do’s and don’tsFDA — Dermal fillers (soft tissue fillers)
What does the FDA tell the public not to do?
Two things, stated without qualification. Do not buy dermal fillers that are sold directly to the public. Do not inject yourself with dermal fillers or with needle-free injection pens. Both instructions point at the same gap: outside a clinic nobody can check what is in the syringe, and nothing connects you to the emergency response described above. An area does not become safer because a device was marketed for use at home — the anatomy under the lips or under the eyes is unchanged by the packaging, and so is the vascular risk the FDA attaches to every filler injection.
Sources: FDA consumer update — Dermal filler do’s and don’tsMurray G et al., J Clin Aesthet Dermatol 2021 — vascular occlusion management
How long does the effect last?
The only duration figures in the U.S. records here are area-specific label statements rather than a single answer for “filler.” Restylane Eyelight’s approval describes 333 subjects treated in one or two sessions and assessed at 12 months; Juvéderm Volux XC’s approval page states duration of up to 12 months and notes more than one injection may be needed for optimal results. Both are statements about a study population on a product label, not a confirmed duration for one person, and the sources here do not confirm how that Restylane Eyelight study was controlled or blinded — read the 12-month figure as what the approval records, not as a number to expect. Belotero Balance’s approval carries no duration figure at all, and its lip use was not evaluated for safety and effectiveness in the first place. What is more likely to decide how long a result holds in any of these areas is which exact product and dose were used, the treatment area itself, and individual factors — the same variables this page already treats as separating one area’s record from another’s. Ask the clinic which product is planned, what duration figure — if any — its own label states for that area, and how it decides when a repeat session is due.
Sources: FDA — Restylane Eyelight (P040024/S135)FDA — Juvéderm Volux XC (P110033/S065)FDA PMA P090016 — Belotero Balance (Merz)
What should you settle before booking an area-specific treatment?
Six points. Which exact product is planned for your area, and which registration covers it locally. Whether that registration names your area or a different one. Who injects, and what happens if that person is unavailable when you come back. Whether hyaluronidase is stocked, and who can reach it outside opening hours. What the clinic does if blanching, escalating pain or any change in vision appears during the injection. And how a nodule appearing weeks later would be assessed, by whom. Bring the names and dates of every injectable you have had, in any area, including ones that caused no trouble.
Sources: FDA — Dermal fillers (soft tissue fillers)Murray G et al., J Clin Aesthet Dermatol 2021 — vascular occlusion managementPhilipp-Dormston WG et al., Plast Reconstr Surg Glob Open 2020;8(4):e2730 — delayed nodules
Does one approval carry across from one area to the next?
No — each area has its own record, or none at all. Read it area by area: the second column holds only what a source here verified for that area, and the third shows how the vascular literature ranks the site.
| Area | What a source here confirms for this area | Where the vascular sources place it | What this page cannot confirm |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under the eyes (infraorbital hollow) | Approved in the U.S. on 2023-05-08: Restylane Eyelight, for depressed, sunken or hollow areas under the eyes, patients 21 and older; study of 333 subjects, one or two sessions, assessed at 12 months | Not among the glabella, nose and forehead named as highest risk; the FDA vessel risk applies to any injection | Any Korean registration, and whether another product holds an under-eye approval |
| Jawline | Approved in the U.S. on 2022-07-29: Juvéderm Volux XC, for correction of jawline definition, patients over 21; the approval page states up to 12 months and possible repeat injection | Not on the named highest-risk list; the FDA vessel risk applies to any injection | Any Korean registration, and the control arm and blinding behind the 12-month figure |
| Lips | Lip augmentation appears in the FDA description of the absorbable filler category; Belotero Balance states that use in the lips was not evaluated for safety and effectiveness | Not on the named highest-risk list; the FDA vessel risk applies to any injection | Which product on a given menu holds a lip approval where you are treated |
| Nasolabial folds and similar folds | Approved in the U.S. on 2011-11-14: Belotero Balance, for injection into the mid-to-deep dermis for moderate-to-severe facial wrinkles and folds such as nasolabial folds | Not on the named highest-risk list, though it lies beside the nose — ask where the needle passes | Any Korean registration, and use outside that dermal plane |
| Glabella, nose, forehead | No approval for these sites is quoted anywhere on this page | Named as the highest-risk sites in the 2021 review, because vessels there anastomose with the ophthalmic artery | Any product record for these sites, and the protocol a particular clinic follows there |
This table is a map for the consultation, not a ranking of areas and not a recommendation. Where the second column is thin, this page found no record to cite — that is not a finding that a product is unapproved. Approval is issued country by country, product by product and indication by indication, and every record quoted here is a U.S. one that is silent on Korean registration.
Sources: FDA — Restylane Eyelight (P040024/S135)FDA — Juvéderm Volux XC (P110033/S065)FDA PMA P090016 — Belotero Balance (Merz)FDA — Dermal fillers (soft tissue fillers)Murray G et al., J Clin Aesthet Dermatol 2021 — vascular occlusion management
Medical care at Abijou
Care is provided by the medical team at the branch you select. These clinicians lead the three branches linked from this guide; confirm the doctor assigned to your visit with that branch.
Chief MD, Myeongdong
Cheol-su Yoon
I want to be thinking about how the patient feels right up to the last moment of the procedure.
Chief MD, Hongdae
Jae-wook Kim
I will give my best with the attentiveness to catch even the smallest change.
Listed branch medical team — not a medical-review byline for this article.
Frequently asked questions
Is “design filler” an official category or a menu label?
It is a menu label. Clinics use it to group products by the area they are meant for, and no regulator issues approvals to a category with that name. The text that carries weight is the indication written on a product’s approval — correction of jawline definition, or depressed, sunken or hollow areas under the eyes, for example. Once you ask which product and which indication, the menu heading stops doing any work.
Is the material in a contouring filler different from other fillers?
Usually not — the products grouped this way are hyaluronic acid gels, part of the absorbable soft tissue filler family the FDA describes as approved for moderate to severe facial wrinkles and skin folds and for lip, cheek and chin augmentation and the back of the hands. What separates a lip product from an under-eye product is which area was evaluated for it, not the material class. Confirm the material anyway, because the enzyme route available for hyaluronic acid does not apply to a gel that is not hyaluronic acid.
Where in the tissue does an area-specific filler sit, and can it be dissolved later?
At the depth its indication names, which is part of why areas are not interchangeable: Belotero Balance is approved in the U.S. for injection into the mid-to-deep dermis, while the under-eye and jawline records are written around their own areas. A hyaluronic acid gel holds space physically where it is placed. Hyaluronidase can break it down, but in the sources on this page that enzyme appears as the response to suspected vascular occlusion and as a treatment for non-inflammatory delayed nodules — not as a cosmetic reset button. Agree beforehand what would happen if the result needed adjusting.
The clinic already uses this filler elsewhere — does that cover the area I want?
Not by itself, because approvals name areas. In the U.S., Restylane Eyelight names the hollow under the eyes, Juvéderm Volux XC names jawline definition, and Belotero Balance names the mid-to-deep dermis for folds such as nasolabial folds while stating that lip use was not evaluated for safety and effectiveness. Those are three separate records for three separate areas. Ask whether the product proposed for your area holds a registration naming that area where you are treated.
How is an area-based filler menu different from a volume-based one?
The difference is how the clinic sorts its list, not how the products are regulated. An area-based menu leads with lips, under-eye or jawline; a volume-based menu leads with product families and lets you locate the area afterwards. Either way the record that decides what may be injected where is written per product and per indication, so one question works on both: which product, which area, which registration. The sorting tells you what the clinic is used to being asked for, and nothing more than that.
Is an under-eye injection riskier than a jawline one?
The sources here do not rank those two against each other, and implying that they do would misstate them. What they state is specific: the FDA describes unintentional injection into a blood vessel as the most concerning risk of any dermal filler, with necrosis, vision abnormalities including blindness and stroke as consequences, and the 2021 vascular review puts the glabella, the nose and the forehead at the top of its risk ordering, on the grounds of anastomosis with the ophthalmic artery. Neither the under-eye nor the jawline appears on that named list, which is not the same as being free of risk. The emergency plan is worth confirming for every area.
Why would a vision symptom matter after a jawline or lip injection?
Because the FDA lists vision abnormalities including blindness among the consequences of filler entering a blood vessel, and it does not restrict that list to injections beside the eye. Blanching of the skin, pain that is severe or keeps building, a mottled or dusky colour, or any change in vision during or after an injection needs immediate medical attention wherever the needle went. Say it in the room rather than waiting to see how it looks in the morning.
Is swelling in the lips or under the eyes something to wait out?
Only once you know which of three situations it is. Swelling and bruising at the injection site resolve by themselves, and no source here breaks that down area by area. Blanching, escalating pain, colour change or any vision symptom is the emergency case and cannot wait. A firm lump surfacing weeks or months afterwards belongs to a third group, the delayed-onset nodules the 2020 review counts at 1.0% per patient, and that one is assessed rather than waited out. If you cannot tell which one you have, describe it to the clinic and let them decide.
How many sessions does an area-specific plan take?
The answer comes from the record for that area rather than from the category. The Restylane Eyelight approval describes 333 subjects treated in one or two sessions and assessed at 12 months; the Volux XC approval page states a duration of up to 12 months and notes that more than one injection may be needed for optimal results. Both are label statements about a study population rather than a schedule for one person. Ask what the clinic plans for your area, and why.
Who should not be treated, and what does the injector need to know first?
Candidacy is settled against the labeling of the product that will actually be used, and this page does not carry that labeling, so what follows is a disclosure list rather than a contraindication list. The two U.S. records quoted here are written for adults: 21 and older for Restylane Eyelight, over 21 for Juvéderm Volux XC. Flag any infection or inflammation currently active in the area before a plan is drawn up, and state clearly which area you want treated and which you do not, since a product approved for one may not be approved for the other.
I had filler in a different area years ago — is that relevant now?
Yes, and it belongs on the record before a new injection. Delayed-onset nodules are linked in the 2020 review to bacterial biofilm, type IV hypersensitivity and foreign-body reaction, which are patient-level mechanisms rather than area-level ones, and the review reports them at 1.0% per patient. Bring product names and dates for everything you have had injected, in any area, and mention any lump that ever formed, including one that resolved on its own.
The approval I read about names my area — does it apply in Korea?
Not automatically. Every record quoted on this page is a U.S. one: Belotero Balance on 2011-11-14, Juvéderm Volux XC on 2022-07-29 and Restylane Eyelight on 2023-05-08, each for its own area. Korean approval is outside what these sources cover, so this page claims nothing about it for any filler. Ask the clinic to show which product it will use and the registration that applies where the treatment takes place.
How do I compare quotes when every clinic prices by area?
This page carries no prices, so make the quotes describe the same thing before you read the numbers. Match five items: the area, the exact product name, the amount of product covered, whether a review visit is part of it, and how the clinic handles and bills hyaluronidase if it becomes necessary. Two lines both reading "under-eye filler" can rest on different products and different amounts, in which case the headline numbers are not describing the same purchase at all.
How do I know whether an area-specific product is the right thing to ask for?
Decide the area first, then check what exists for it. The sources here define candidacy through the product record rather than through a personal profile: an approval names the area, the age group — 21 and older for Restylane Eyelight, over 21 for Juvéderm Volux XC — and the study population behind it. So before booking, write down the single area you want changed and ask whether the clinic stocks a product whose registration names that area where you are being treated. If the answers keep coming back as brand names, the question has not been answered yet.
How Abijou works
We started in Gangnam in 2006 and the network now runs 17 branches across Korea. The line we work to is skin transformation woven into everyday life — care you can keep up with, rather than one dramatic change.
- Across the 17 branches in Seoul, Gyeonggi, Incheon and Busan: over 1,000 medical professionals and more than 350 certified medical devices
- Authentic products only, in appropriate amounts — the treatment is fitted to the condition, not to a package
- Prices are quoted from each branch’s published price list as it stands
Contact and location
- Phone
- 1544-0377
Free Consultation
Booking happens at the branch
There is no inquiry form on this page. Once you have picked a branch above, open that branch’s site or the official reservation center and choose a time yourself.
- No deposit and no online prepayment — everything is paid at the visit
- Per-treatment prices are published for each branch on the official reservation center
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