9th ICLAS Seoul 2026 — “Designing Responses,” and the direction of aesthetic medicine in one day
On Sunday 18 October 2026 I was not in the clinic but in a conference hall at Grand Walkerhill Seoul, at the 9th ICLAS Seoul (International Conference of Laser, Aesthetic medicine and Surgery). These are notes on the direction I read from the day’s lecture titles. I have not reproduced speakers’ names or the details of their talks.
The short answer
This year’s ICLAS theme was “Designing Responses, Engineering Healing,” and the day’s lecture titles really did fit inside that one sentence. The first hour went not to products but to anatomy, ultrasound and tissue planes. The skin booster forum asked which tissue response a material predicts rather than which brand is better; the toxin forum opened with the word “resistance”; the energy-device session talked about which tissue at what depth rather than power. I was moved by the foresight of the leading physicians who opened this direction years ago, and it was a remarkable congress. Nothing from a congress goes straight into practice; evidence and Korean approval come first. What Miso Clinic in Daegu (4F Bombom Building, 125 Dongdeok-ro, Jung-gu, +82-53-428-2700) brings back is not a new treatment but a better way of explaining.
What kind of congress was it?
ICLAS is an international congress on lasers, aesthetic medicine and surgery. The 9th meeting was held on 18 October 2026 at Grand Walkerhill Seoul, with sessions running all day in two rooms, INSIGHT and DESIGN.
The INSIGHT Room carried “Forums, Evidence & Clinical Decision-Making”; the DESIGN Room “Techniques, Masterclasses & Clinical Strategy.” Skin boosters, pigmentation, botulinum toxin, energy-based devices, drug delivery and hair regeneration followed one after another.
When I first saw the slogan on the abstract book I took it for a nice phrase. Turning through the program changed my mind.
A congress that opened with anatomy
The day opened with the plenary “Anatomical and Ultrasound Insights into Facial Tissue Rheology.” The DESIGN Room followed with “Designing Harmony: Advanced Concepts Beyond Filler Volumization”: “Restoration vs Beautification,” “Masculine vs Feminine: Gender-Specific Strategies for Facial Identity,” and “Precision by Plane: Matching Filler Rheology to Tissue Layer, Indication, and Biological Response.”
An aesthetic congress giving its first hour to anatomy, ultrasound and tissue planes rather than products. I read it as a sign that the weight is moving from filling volume to reading tissue properties and layers first.
Skin booster forum — from “hydration” to “matrix”
The INSIGHT Room morning was the “Skin Booster Forum: Navigating the Biomaterial Landscape.” The titles moved through cold boosters, dual-weight hyaluronic acid, PLLA across tissues, transparent atelocollagen, “Rebuilding the Dermal Matrix: The Role of hADM in ECM Restoration” and “From PDRN to PN,” closing with the panel “Matching Biomaterials, Predicting Tissue Response.”
Line up the words and the direction shows: dermal matrix, ECM restoration, tissue response. This is not the language of “a shot that moisturises.” In my columns I have argued for sorting boosters by what they do rather than by brand; here that idea sat on a far more rigorous scientific frame.
My own look at hADM is in Reflections on hADM.
Neurotoxin forum — the first word was “resistance”
Just before lunch, the “Neurotoxin Forum: The Evolution of Botulinum Toxin Therapy” opened with “Resistance Revisited: Immunogenicity, Molecular Design, and Clinical Response,” followed by “Meta-Contouring: A Dual-Modality Approach to Lower Face Rejuvenation,” “Beyond Contouring: Combination Therapy,” and the panel “Clinical Decision-Making in Neurotoxin Practice.”
Opening with resistance rather than results or treatment areas stayed with me. With more people receiving toxin over many years, it sounded like a reminder that this is not “a simple shot” but a series of decisions: when, where, how much and which round.
At Miso Clinic the same area is retreated no sooner than three months, and first-time patients are reviewed two weeks later for symmetry and expression. The reasons are in When Botox starts working and how long it lasts.
Energy-based devices — depth over power
The INSIGHT Room afternoon session was “Designing Tissue Response with Energy-Based Devices”: “Targeting dWAT with Energy,” “Beyond Skin Tightening: Exploring the Dual Potential of Monopolar RF,” “Permittivity-Selective Heating of the Dermis and Fibroseptal Network,” and “Depth Defines Response: Rethinking Ultrasound Targeting from Dermis to SMAS.” The DESIGN Room added “The Arrhenius Law in RF Treatment” and “Multi-Layer RF Contouring.”
dWAT, fibrous septa, SMAS, multi-layer: a completely different vocabulary from the days when device talk began with shot counts. How the same output heats tissue differently depending on fat thickness is in Reflections on OLIGIO, and how thickness and fat change the plan is in Skin thickness, fat volume and lifting.
The people who saw ahead
Not long ago, booster talk often ended at “this product is good” and device talk at “how many shots.” A program like this exists because leading physicians at home and abroad were already asking how tissue responds and at what depth heat lands.
I was moved by that foresight, and impressed by a program that tied so many threads into one sentence.
What I bring back to the clinic, and what I do not
A congress is for learning direction. I do not bring new treatments or materials straight into practice; evidence and Korean approval status come first.
What I will change is how I explain things: boosters starting from what has declined in your skin rather than the brand, toxin starting from the reasons for interval and rounds, lifting devices starting from skin thickness and fat rather than power and shot count. Miso Clinic uses Density (Alpha tip), XERF and OLIGIO KISS; we do not have Ultherapy, Thermage or Shurink.
The four original posts
I also wrote four posts at the venue the same day — in Korean and English on Blogger, and in English on Substack.
Frequently asked questions about these ICLAS 2026 notes
What is ICLAS?
The International Conference of Laser, Aesthetic medicine and Surgery, an international congress on lasers, aesthetic medicine and surgery. The 9th meeting was held on 18 October 2026 at Grand Walkerhill Seoul.
What was the main direction this year?
Asking which tissue response you are designing, and in which layer, before talking about products. The theme itself was “Designing Responses, Engineering Healing.”
Can I get a treatment I read about here at Miso Clinic right away?
No. A congress is for learning direction; anything added to practice is decided after checking evidence and Korean approval status.
Why are the lectures not described in detail?
The content of a talk belongs to its speaker, so this page only quotes the public lecture titles and my own impressions.
Which lifting devices does Miso Clinic use?
Density (Alpha tip), XERF and OLIGIO KISS. We do not have Ultherapy, Thermage or Shurink. The device is chosen after looking at the degree of sagging, skin thickness and the fat layer.
Where is Miso Clinic?
4F Bombom Building, 125 Dongdeok-ro, Jung-gu, Daegu, in front of Exit 1 of Kyungpook National University Hospital Station. +82-53-428-2700. Weekdays 11:00–19:00, Saturday 10:00–16:00, closed Sundays and public holidays.
Read next
Product pages
Reference: All booster and lifting-device pages
Who wrote this
Written and reviewed by Lee Chi-Hak, MD, director of Miso Clinic, Daegu. The treatment standards and injection design set out here are the ones we use in practice.
| Medical director | Lee Chi-Hak, MD |
|---|---|
| Address | 4F Bombom Building, 125 Dongdeok-ro, Jung-gu, Daegu, South Korea · Exit 1, Kyungpook National University Hospital Station |
| Phone | +82-53-428-2700 |
| Hours | Weekdays 11:00–19:00 (lunch 13:00–14:00) / Saturday 10:00–16:00 (no lunch break) / Closed Sundays and public holidays |
| Columns | All clinical columns |
| Reference library | All booster and device references |
References
- 9th ICLAS Seoul 2026 program — 18 October 2026, Grand Walkerhill Seoul. Only the slogan, session names and lecture titles printed in the abstract book and the INSIGHT/DESIGN Room programs are quoted. Speakers’ names and lecture details are not reproduced.
- Korean Medical Service Act — Article 56(2) prohibits treatment-experience testimonials, comparisons with other clinics and superlatives in medical advertising. This is why the page carries no reviews, before-and-after photos or prices.
- Miso Clinic practice — Botox: at least three months between treatments of the same area and a two-week check after the first treatment; lifting devices on hand (Density Alpha tip, XERF, OLIGIO KISS; no Ultherapy, Thermage or Shurink); treatments seen at congresses are judged only after checking evidence and Korean approval. Source of the sentences written as “I” or “Miso Clinic”.
Everything in this column is general information and does not replace medical diagnosis or treatment. Effects and side effects vary with individual skin condition, age and underlying illness, and the same result is not guaranteed for everyone. Any decision to proceed should be made in an in-person consultation with a physician.