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.
Fat-dissolving injection menu guide
Facial Contouring Injection
A facial contouring injection entry on a Korean clinic menu is a fat-dissolving injectable, not a botulinum toxin. Menu wording such as Contour 6cc, GPC 6cc or GPC Line Fit 6cc names a volume, not an ingredient, and regulatory status differs sharply between ingredients: deoxycholic acid products are approved for submental fat in adults in the United States and in Korea, while the FDA states that phosphatidylcholine and sodium deoxycholate injections are unapproved. The question that settles everything else is which ingredient is in the syringe.
- What it is
- Fat-dissolving injectable menu, not botulinum toxin
- Ingredient
- Not stated by the menu names; confirm before treatment
- Approved area
- Submental fat in adults, for deoxycholic acid products
- Regulatory status
- Differs by ingredient; the FDA states PPC and DC injections are unapproved
Is a contouring injection the same kind of treatment as a jawline toxin?
No, and this is the first thing to correct. Booking systems in Korea often file these entries under a contouring heading alongside toxin items, but the menu entries named here — Contour 6cc, GPC 6cc and GPC Line Fit 6cc — are fat-dissolving injectables, a different drug class with a different target, a different approval history and a different safety profile. A botulinum toxin acts on nerve signalling to a muscle; a fat-dissolving injectable is meant to act on fat tissue itself, and the only fat-dissolving injectable drug the FDA describes as approved is KYBELLA, whose active ingredient is deoxycholic acid. Do not carry over anything you have read about toxin units, toxin brands or toxin approvals into this menu.
Sources: FDA label — KYBELLA (deoxycholic acid injection)FDA — Using fat-dissolving injections that are not FDA approved can be harmful (2023-12-20)
Which ingredient is actually inside a fat-dissolving syringe?
A menu heading does not answer that question, and the reason it matters so much is that regulatory status is attached to the ingredient, not to the menu heading. Three ingredient stories come up in this category. Deoxycholic acid has approval records: KYBELLA with the U.S. FDA, and Bellacholine injection and Lipolin injection with the Korean MFDS. Phosphatidylcholine plus sodium deoxycholate — written PPC and DC — is the combination the FDA named in a December 2023 consumer warning as unapproved. None of those three approval records names Contour, GPC or GPC Line Fit, so a menu name alone does not tell you which ingredient, if any, is in the syringe — treat it as unknown until a clinician names it.
Sources: FDA label — KYBELLA (deoxycholic acid injection)FDA — Using fat-dissolving injections that are not FDA approved can be harmful (2023-12-20)MFDS drug product record — Bellacholine injection (deoxycholic acid), approved 2024-01-25MFDS drug product record — Lipolin injection (deoxycholic acid), approved 2025-08-22
Where is deoxycholic acid approved to be injected, and in whom?
Under the chin, in adults, and nowhere else on the approved record. The U.S. KYBELLA label states the drug is "indicated for improvement in the appearance of moderate to severe convexity or fullness associated with submental fat in adults", and the same label states that "safe and effective use ... outside the submental region has not been established and is not recommended". Safety and effectiveness in patients under 18 are not established. Korea has separate approvals with the same anatomical limit: the MFDS records for Bellacholine injection, approved on 25 January 2024, and Lipolin injection, approved on 22 August 2025, both cover improvement of moderate to severe protruding or excessive submental fat in adults, and both are registered as prescription-only medicines. A U.S. approval and a Korean approval are separate records; neither one extends the other.
Sources: FDA label — KYBELLA (deoxycholic acid injection)MFDS drug product record — Bellacholine injection (deoxycholic acid), approved 2024-01-25MFDS drug product record — Lipolin injection (deoxycholic acid), approved 2025-08-22
What has the FDA said about PPC and DC fat-dissolving injections?
It published a consumer warning on 20 December 2023 headed on the point that using fat-dissolving injections that are not FDA approved can be harmful. The notice names the ingredients as "phosphatidylcholine (PPC) and sodium deoxycholate (DC)" and states that "these ingredients ... are unapproved, which means the FDA has not evaluated their safety or effectiveness". It also states that "Kybella ... is the only fat-dissolving injectable drug that is FDA approved". Brand names identified in that notice include Aqualyx, Lipodissolve, Lipo Lab and Kabelline. The adverse events reported to the agency for these unapproved products are not minor: permanent scarring, severe infection, skin deformity, cysts and painful knots. This is the single most important safety paragraph on the page, and it is the reason the ingredient question cannot be skipped.
Sources: FDA — Using fat-dissolving injections that are not FDA approved can be harmful (2023-12-20)FDA label — KYBELLA (deoxycholic acid injection)
Does GPC in a menu name tell you what is being injected?
No, and this page will not treat it as one. Reading the abbreviation as glycerophosphocholine is an assumption, not a statement drawn from any approval record. The FDA notice names KYBELLA as the only FDA-approved fat-dissolving injectable drug, and the Korean approvals documented on this page — Bellacholine injection and Lipolin injection — are for deoxycholic acid products; neither record uses the term GPC. A menu abbreviation is not a registered product name, so it cannot tell you what regulatory review the substance in the syringe has actually been through. Ask for the product name as it appears on the approval record, and ask the clinic to show you where that record can be checked.
Sources: FDA — Using fat-dissolving injections that are not FDA approved can be harmful (2023-12-20)FDA label — KYBELLA (deoxycholic acid injection)
How is a fat-dissolving injection supposed to act on tissue?
By destroying cell membranes rather than by blocking a nerve signal. The KYBELLA label describes deoxycholic acid as a cytolytic drug that physically destroys the cell membrane when injected into tissue, and it also states the action is not selective for fat cells — which is exactly why placement matters more here than in many other injectable procedures. The label warns that injection into the dermis, in other words too superficially, can produce skin ulceration and necrosis. For PPC and DC products no mechanism claim can be treated as established, because the FDA states it has not evaluated the safety or effectiveness of those ingredients at all. Depth, volume and anatomy are clinical decisions that belong to a licensed injector working within an approved indication.
Sources: FDA label — KYBELLA (deoxycholic acid injection)FDA — Using fat-dissolving injections that are not FDA approved can be harmful (2023-12-20)
What did the phase III trial actually measure, and at what cost in side effects?
REFINE-2 was a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial run at 28 sites in five countries, with 363 participants randomized, up to four treatments at intervals of 28 plus or minus 5 days, and follow-up for 12 weeks after the final dose. The primary response rates were 59.2% and 65.3% against 23.0% on placebo, with P less than 0.001 — and treatment-related adverse events occurred in 90.8% and 95.0% of treated participants against 50.8% on placebo. Both halves of that result belong together: a majority responded, and almost everyone treated had a treatment-related adverse event. The evidence behind PPC and DC is much thinner. Reeds and colleagues ran a randomized, open-label, left-right controlled study with 13 participants enrolled and 7 completing, receiving two to four treatments at 8-week intervals, and reported reduced subcutaneous fat thickness; with that sample size and no blinding, it is low-grade evidence and cannot carry a treatment decision.
Sources: REFINE-2 phase III trial, Br J Dermatol 2014Reeds et al., Aesthetic Surgery Journal 2013;33(3):400-408
How long does the effect last?
REFINE-2 followed its participants for 12 weeks after the final of up to four doses, and its primary result is a responder rate — 59.2% and 65.3% against 23.0% on placebo — measured at that endpoint, not a statement of how long any fat reduction is expected to persist beyond the trial’s own follow-up window; that trial evidence sits entirely inside the approved submental-only indication described above, so it says nothing about duration for injection anywhere else on the body or face. The Reeds PPC/DC study followed an even smaller group for a shorter course and reports a change in fat-layer thickness, again without a stated duration beyond the study period. Separate from either of those, the label’s day-ranges for marginal mandibular nerve injury (resolving over 1 to 298 days, median 44) and dysphagia (1 to 81 days, median 3) describe how long a side effect took to resolve, not how long the fat-reduction result is expected to last — the two are easy to conflate but answer different questions. Because deoxycholic acid works by destroying the injected fat cells rather than by temporarily displacing tissue, how many of the approved up-to-four treatments you actually complete, whether the area proposed for you is the approved submental area, and which ingredient is confirmed in the syringe, are the questions to raise directly, since neither label states a maintenance timeline beyond its own trial follow-up.
Sources: REFINE-2 phase III trial, Br J Dermatol 2014Reeds et al., Aesthetic Surgery Journal 2013;33(3):400-408FDA label — KYBELLA (deoxycholic acid injection)
Which adverse effects are printed on the approved label?
Four groups stand out, and the approved U.S. label carries no boxed warning. Marginal mandibular nerve injury is described with the symptoms "asymmetric smile or facial muscle weakness (paresis)", with cases resolving spontaneously over a range of 1 to 298 days and a median of 44 days. Dysphagia — difficulty swallowing — is reported over a range of 1 to 81 days with a median of 3 days. Injection into the dermis can cause skin ulceration and necrosis. Cellulitis and abscess have required intravenous antibiotics. The Korean records for Bellacholine injection and Lipolin injection list the same categories in their precautions: marginal mandibular nerve injury, dysphagia, and ulceration or necrosis after injection into the dermis. Separately, the FDA notice lists permanent scarring, severe infection, skin deformity, cysts and painful knots among events reported for unapproved products.
Sources: FDA label — KYBELLA (deoxycholic acid injection)MFDS drug product record — Bellacholine injection (deoxycholic acid), approved 2024-01-25MFDS drug product record — Lipolin injection (deoxycholic acid), approved 2025-08-22FDA — Using fat-dissolving injections that are not FDA approved can be harmful (2023-12-20)
What should you confirm at the consultation itself?
Confirm the ingredient first, then the approved area, then the plan. Ask the clinician to name the product and ingredient, state which regulator approved it and for which area, and say explicitly whether the area being proposed for you falls inside that approval. In Korea the deoxycholic acid products documented here are prescription-only medicines, so the decision belongs to a physician who has examined you. Disclose your medical history, current medicines, any bleeding or clotting problems, previous procedures or surgery in the area, any infection or skin problem at the site, and pregnancy or breastfeeding. Finally, ask who to contact if a symptom appears after you have left, because the label durations show that some effects are followed for weeks or months rather than days.
Sources: FDA label — KYBELLA (deoxycholic acid injection)MFDS drug product record — Bellacholine injection (deoxycholic acid), approved 2024-01-25MFDS drug product record — Lipolin injection (deoxycholic acid), approved 2025-08-22FDA — Using fat-dissolving injections that are not FDA approved can be harmful (2023-12-20)
Which ingredient holds which approval, and for which area?
This table lines up ingredients, not clinic menu items, because approval attaches to the ingredient and the indication. It does not state what any specific menu entry contains, and it is not an efficacy ranking.
| Ingredient | Regulatory record | Approved use in that country | What that means on a menu |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deoxycholic acid — KYBELLA (U.S.) | U.S. FDA approved label | Improvement in the appearance of moderate to severe convexity or fullness associated with submental fat in adults | Label states use outside the submental region has not been established and is not recommended; safety and effectiveness under 18 not established; no boxed warning |
| Deoxycholic acid — Bellacholine injection (Korea) | Korea MFDS record, approved 2024-01-25 | Improvement of moderate to severe protruding or excessive submental fat in adults | Prescription-only medicine; precautions cover marginal mandibular nerve injury, dysphagia, and ulceration or necrosis after injection into the dermis |
| Deoxycholic acid — Lipolin injection (Korea) | Korea MFDS record, approved 2025-08-22 | Improvement of moderate to severe protruding or excessive submental fat in adults | A separate Korean approval from Bellacholine; same anatomical limit and the same precaution categories |
| Phosphatidylcholine (PPC) with sodium deoxycholate (DC) | FDA consumer warning, 2023-12-20 — unapproved | None; the FDA states it has not evaluated the safety or effectiveness of these ingredients | Brands named in the notice include Aqualyx, Lipodissolve, Lipo Lab and Kabelline; reported events include permanent scarring, severe infection, skin deformity, cysts and painful knots |
| GPC | Not one of the ingredients named in the records above | Not addressed by those records | A menu abbreviation, not an established composition; ask for the registered product name and the approval record |
Approvals are national and ingredient-specific. This table compares regulatory records only; it does not say which ingredient any clinic uses, does not rank effectiveness, and does not extend an approval from one country or one body area to another.
Sources: FDA label — KYBELLA (deoxycholic acid injection)MFDS drug product record — Bellacholine injection (deoxycholic acid), approved 2024-01-25MFDS drug product record — Lipolin injection (deoxycholic acid), approved 2025-08-22FDA — Using fat-dissolving injections that are not FDA approved can be harmful (2023-12-20)
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 a contouring injection a type of Botox?
No. It is a fat-dissolving injectable, which is a different drug class from botulinum toxin even when a booking menu files the two under one contouring heading. The approved fat-dissolving drug named by the FDA is KYBELLA, with deoxycholic acid as its active ingredient, and it is meant to act on fat tissue rather than on the nerve signal to a muscle.
Does a name like Contour 6cc or GPC Line Fit 6cc tell me the ingredient?
No, it tells you a planned volume of solution. None of the approval records cited on this page name Contour, GPC or GPC Line Fit, so the ingredient has to come from the clinician in the room. Ask for the registered product name, the active ingredient and the approval record before the syringe is prepared.
How is fat under the chin supposed to be removed by an injection?
By breaking down cell membranes at the injection site. The KYBELLA label describes deoxycholic acid as a cytolytic drug that physically destroys the cell membrane when injected into tissue, and states that this action is not selective for fat cells — which is why the label warns that injection into the dermis can cause skin ulceration and necrosis. For PPC and DC products the FDA states it has not evaluated safety or effectiveness at all.
Deoxycholic acid or a PPC and DC mixture — is there really a regulatory difference?
Yes, and it is the widest gap on this page. Deoxycholic acid holds approvals: KYBELLA with the U.S. FDA, and Bellacholine injection (2024-01-25) and Lipolin injection (2025-08-22) with the Korean MFDS. PPC with sodium deoxycholate was named by the FDA in December 2023 as unapproved, with the agency stating it has not evaluated those ingredients for safety or effectiveness and listing permanent scarring, severe infection, skin deformity, cysts and painful knots among reported events.
How does a fat-dissolving injection compare with liposuction or a device treatment?
They are different categories, and this page holds no head-to-head comparison between them. The sources cited here document an injectable drug record and its trial results only, so nothing here supports a statement that an injection does more or less than a surgical or device-based option. Ask a clinician to explain the options for your own anatomy rather than reading a ranking into this page.
Can the same injection be used on the cheeks, arms or abdomen?
Not within the approvals documented here. The U.S. KYBELLA label covers submental fat in adults and states that safe and effective use outside the submental region has not been established and is not recommended, and the Korean records for Bellacholine injection and Lipolin injection are likewise limited to submental fat in adults. If a different body area is proposed to you, ask directly which approval that use rests on.
How painful is it, and should I expect swelling afterwards?
The sources cited here do not publish a pain score, so this page will not invent one. What the evidence does show is that reactions were common: in REFINE-2, treatment-related adverse events occurred in 90.8% and 95.0% of treated participants against 50.8% on placebo. Ask the clinic what anaesthetic approach it uses and what it expects in the days after treatment.
If a side effect happens, how long can it last?
Longer than most people plan for. The approved label reports marginal mandibular nerve injury presenting as an asymmetric smile or facial muscle weakness (paresis), resolving spontaneously over a range of 1 to 298 days with a median of 44 days, and dysphagia over a range of 1 to 81 days with a median of 3 days. Those ranges are worth weighing against travel dates and any work that depends on your appearance or speech.
How many sessions are involved?
REFINE-2 allowed up to four treatments at intervals of 28 plus or minus 5 days, with follow-up for 12 weeks after the final dose — that is a trial protocol, not a schedule prescribed for you. In Korea the deoxycholic acid products documented here are prescription-only medicines, so the number and spacing of treatments is a physician decision made after examination.
Who should not have this treatment?
The approved label states that safety and effectiveness in patients under 18 have not been established, and the Korean products are prescription-only, which means eligibility is decided by a physician rather than by a menu. Disclose current medicines, bleeding or clotting problems, previous surgery or procedures in the area, any infection or skin problem at the site, and pregnancy or breastfeeding, and have the injection site examined in person.
Which symptoms after the injection need medical attention?
Contact the treating clinic immediately for skin ulceration or an area that darkens or breaks down, for spreading redness, heat or swelling that suggests cellulitis or an abscess — the label records cases needing intravenous antibiotics — for difficulty swallowing, and for an asymmetric smile or facial muscle weakness. Tell any emergency clinician the exact product injected, the ingredient and the date.
Is this treatment approved in Korea?
Deoxycholic acid products are: the MFDS records for Bellacholine injection (approved 25 January 2024) and Lipolin injection (approved 22 August 2025) cover improvement of moderate to severe protruding or excessive submental fat in adults, both as prescription-only medicines. That is a separate matter from the U.S. approval of KYBELLA, and this page found no Korean approval of a PPC and DC or GPC product for dissolving fat.
How do I compare two quotes from different clinics?
Compare the ingredient and the approval first, not the cc figure. Two quotes showing the same volume can refer to entirely different substances with entirely different regulatory status, so a price per cc is meaningless until both quotes name the same registered product. Then align the treated area, the number of sessions included and what follow-up is covered. This page carries no prices; ask each clinic to state its current terms.
Who is this suitable for, and can it be done on a short trip?
Suitability is decided in person, against an approved indication that is limited to moderate to severe submental fullness in adults. For a short trip, weigh the trial interval of roughly four weeks between treatments and the reported durations of adverse effects — up to 81 days for dysphagia and up to 298 days for nerve-related weakness — and ask before booking who you should contact if a problem appears after you fly home.
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
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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
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