Loose skin and localized fat persist after GLP-1 weight loss, spurring demand for combination procedures
'V-Onda' pairing microwave device with fat-dissolving injection draws growing foreign clientele
Half of clinic's patients are from abroad; doctor urges use of clinically verified products
Interview with Jeon Jae-wook, director of Lifton Dermatology Clinic
GLP-1 receptor agonists such as Wegovy and Mounjaro have swept global markets, driving a surge in public interest in weight loss.
Yet even after shedding significant weight through medication, many patients are left with stubborn localized fat — around the flanks, upper arms and accessory breast tissue — as well as loose skin caused by rapid weight reduction. Against that backdrop, body contouring has emerged as a defining trend in aesthetic medicine, with clinics moving beyond the scale to sculpt and refine the body's silhouette.
Jeon Jae-wook, director of Lifton Dermatology Clinic in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, said Tuesday that patients who have lost weight through obesity drugs are consistently seeking follow-up care to address specific problem areas. "On top of standalone procedures, the combination treatment we call 'V-Onda' — pairing the ONDA microwave lifting device with V-Violet, an irreversible fat-dissolving injection — is delivering strong clinical synergy," he said.
V-Violet, made by Daewoong Pharma, is a prescription fat-dissolving injectable that has received formal approval from South Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for improving moderate-to-severe submental fat in adults. Its active ingredient, deoxycholic acid (DCA), is a naturally occurring bile acid that emulsifies and breaks down fat in the body. For body-shaping purposes — targeting the abdomen, flanks, upper arms and accessory breast tissue — physicians apply the injection off-label based on clinical judgment.
Unlike conventional contouring injections, which offer only reversible fat-cell reduction by temporarily shrinking cell volume and are prone to rebound, V-Violet works through irreversible cell death by directly dissolving and destroying the fat-cell membrane itself. Because it reduces the absolute number of fat cells, the treated area retains its shape even if the patient regains weight afterward.
Fat that has accumulated over a long period can become dense and fibrous, making the choice of technique and approach critical to maximizing results. Applying the ONDA device — which uses microwaves in the 2.45 GHz range — before the injection delivers uniform thermal energy deep into the subcutaneous fat layer without damaging the skin surface, softening hardened tissue. The effect is comparable to pouring warm water gradually over a solid block of ice frozen in a freezer.
Once the ONDA treatment has softened the fat tissue, administering V-Violet on the same day allows the drug to penetrate the tissue evenly, effectively destroying fat-cell membranes and promoting their elimination from the body. The combination also harnesses ONDA's dermal collagen-remodeling effect alongside V-Violet's collagen-synthesis mechanism, offering a dual benefit of improved contour and enhanced skin elasticity.
The non-invasive and minimally invasive combination program has drawn strong interest not only from domestic patients but also from foreign visitors. Foreign patients currently account for about 50 percent of all visits to Lifton Dermatology Clinic, coming from the United States, Europe, China, Japan and Southeast Asia, drawn by South Korea's precision medical technology and competitive pricing. "Amid high global interest in K-beauty, specialized dermatology procedures have become a must-do part of visiting Korea," Jeon said. "We operate a systematic multilingual consultation system to meet the needs of our international patients."
Jeon said that when selecting products for clinical use, verified safety and data must be the top priority. While a wide range of fat-dissolving injectables with varying formulations are available on the market, V-Violet is the only domestically developed original product to have demonstrated its efficacy and safety through a large-scale domestic Phase 3 clinical trial in Korean patients and to have completed a two-year, multi-center post-marketing surveillance study. "Using a finished pharmaceutical product whose ingredient specifications, efficacy and side-effect risks have been objectively verified through large-scale clinical trials — rather than a proprietary recipe injection that some clinics mix and promote in-house — is what guarantees procedural safety and predictable outcomes," he said.
Above all, patients need a clear understanding of what body contouring can and cannot do. "The V-Onda combination is not a substitute for obesity drugs aimed at overall weight loss — it is a procedure designed to precisely refine specific localized problem areas that diet alone cannot resolve," Jeon said. "Setting clear treatment goals, consulting thoroughly with your physician, and building a treatment plan tailored to your own fat distribution and skin condition are what lead to high satisfaction."
silverpaper@heraldcorp.com
