In the world of online reviews and feedbacks, it’s time that the cosmetic surgery industry in Korea also gets on the ride with Gangnam Unni!
Cosmetic Surgery Industry in Seoul
Seoul is often described as “the world capital of cosmetic surgery” by the foreign media and the country itself is famous for its K-beauty products.
When you enter a restaurant, you know how expensive the food is, what other people think about the food, service, etc.
But, in cosmetic surgery clinics in Korea, it’s different. None of the clinics openly display their price of services or procedures. They don’t share the specs of medical equipment they are using in the surgery.
For example, if you want to get a skin toning treatment and you have two options. One clinic uses super costly and latest equipment while the other uses an outdated one. But, you won’t know that as both charge the same price. And, that is not fair for patients as they are paying the same for latest as well as outdated medical equipments.
To tackle this issue, Hong Seung-il, co-founder and CEO of Healing Paper came up with Gangnam Unni, a cosmetic surgery review app.
Gangnam Unni
The app was launched in 2015 by Hong Seung-il and his classmate from medical school. The name of the app comes from the Gangnam district of Seoul that is the Mecca of plastic surgery. The name, Gangnam Unni, roughly translates to ‘sister from Gangnam.’
Their aim behind the venture was to make it the go-to app for people going under the knife. As Hong said in an interview, the idea was – “Interested in a little nip and tuck? Ask this (older) sister from Gangnam.”
It has taken them about two years to grab a foothold in the local market and they are growing steadily. There are about 750 clinics in the app that you can check out. To date, Gangnam Unni has around 2.8 million users from South Korea and around 400,000 reviews and ratings.
They are also behind the ‘Healing Paper’ app which was not as successful. This app was targeted to patients with chronic illnesses.
Future Prospects
According to the CEO, βOur goal is to make Gangnam Unni a platform that every age group uses at least one or two times a month.β
And this is a possibility because in Korea, even at a young age, people consider going under the knife for double eyelids, nose jobs and liposuction. In a age group of typically over-30s, they are regulars in clinics and visit for a variety of less invasive procedures.
Now that the pandemic has decimated medical tourism, Healing Paper is looking into launching its services in overseas markets like China and Japan.
You can download the app on Android or iOS devices.
So, if you are traveling to South Korea for some nip and tuck, and you can speak Korean, you can get all kinds of beauty information and check the reviews and great deals on the Gangnam Unni app!
