“They Have A Lot Of Beauty Secrets The U.S. Isn’t Using” Says Hailey Laine, A TikTok Creator

How south korean salmon sperm facials became America’s latest beauty obsession. “They Have A Lot Of Beauty Secrets The U.S. Isn’t Using” Says Hailey Laine, A TikTok Creator

Celebrity endorsements and TikTok buzz helped turn injections of fish DNA into a med-spa juggernaut.

Sally Kim was dealing with hormonal acne last fall when her aesthetician in Orange County, California, suggested an odd-sounding treatment: a salmon sperm facial.

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The name gave Kim pause, but after reading online about the supposed skin-clearing benefits of the procedure’s “bio-stimulation,” she decided to give it a go. That’s when the needles came out.

@sallykim7_died at my husband’s reaction ???? @petit.medispa #rejuran #rejuranhealer #koreanskinclinic #orangecounty #skinclinic #medspa #skintreatment♬ original sound – Sally Kim

“You hand-inject each one,” Kim says in a TikTok video she posted last September, referring to the jabs of fish DNA she’d received all over her face.

Rejuran, the brand that’s become synonymous with the treatment, makes the injectable serum, which is infused with polynucleotides extracted from salmon testes and sperm.

A full application can involve as many as 700 pokes from one or two syringes and costs anywhere from $500 to $1,000 in the US.

In the video, Kim’s husband is visibly concerned when she comes home covered in tiny bumps and bloody pricks from each incision. “Why?” he asks, dumbfounded. “For good skin,” Kim replies.

TikTok is full of similarly gory visages thanks to Rejuran’s explosion in popularity. What started as a niche beauty treatment in South Korea—where clinics charge around $300 to $600 per session—has become a mainstream phenomenon in the US, aided by celebrity endorsements and social media buzz.

In the 12 months from July 2024 through June 2025, Google searches for “Rejuran” increased 153%, while those for “salmon sperm facial” were up almost 5,000%.

The trend has driven significant gains for PharmaResearch Co., Rejuran’s parent company, whose Korea-traded shares have more than tripled over that same period.

The company’s South Korean factories are hustling to keep up with demand. “Growth has been so fast,” says Michael Kim (no relation to Sally), chief medical officer of PharmaResearch.

The company says it’s sold more than 15 million syringes of the serum globally over the past decade and is rapidly expanding in Europe, the Middle East and the US.

LaserAway, a major US med spa chain, in February announced it was making the treatment available at hundreds of locations nationwide.

PharmaResearch claims Rejuran improves skin hydration and elasticity and reduces pore size. It generally takes several days for the bumps and lances to heal, and results vary dramatically.

Some patients see significant benefits, while others see no changes; most fall somewhere in between.

Although topical numbing cream is usually applied beforehand, getting hundreds of needles stuck in your face is about as excruciating as it sounds.

“I was trying to dissociate from my body,” Kim, the 28-year-old content creator, says in an interview. “It was the most painful thing ever.”

But she says her skin looked healthier and brighter for months afterward, results she enthusiastically touts to friends. After her video drew tens of thousands of views, Kim became a #Rejuranpartner, a promotional partnership with the brand. She posted again in June about some of its other products.

@sallykim7_rejuran is one of my favorite skin treatments to get done… but now they have a skincare line?!? SAY LESS! The turnover ampoule improves skin texture, wrinkles, and skin barrier – Available now in the US #rejuranpartner #skincare #REJURAN #TurnoverAmpoule #cPDRN https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTju1CGes/♬ original sound – Sally Kim

A few very famous faces have also fed into the hype. In August 2023, Jennifer Aniston told the Wall Street Journal she tried a salmon sperm facial on her aesthetician’s recommendation, though she questioned both the sourcing and effectiveness of the serum.

In July 2024, Kim Kardashian revealed on her Hulu show that she got one too.

How, exactly, is DNA extracted from salmon sperm? According to PharmaResearch, the process is a form of recycling. Korean salmon return annually to coastal rivers to spawn and die as part of their natural life cycle.

The government harvests some of the fish for artificial breeding programs to sustain wild populations. The sperm and testes that would otherwise be discarded become Rejuran’s raw material.

“They’re being caught anyway, and they’re going to die anyway,” PharmaResearch’s Kim says.

The facial’s virality lies in its outrageous-sounding name, as well as the visual shock factor of patients who leave med spas looking like alien princesses (to borrow a phrase from one viral video) only to reveal glowing skin weeks later.

The cost positions it as a somewhat accessible luxury compared with alternatives such as stem cell facials or high-end fillers, which can range from $1,000 to $5,000.

The product’s success has brought complications. While South Korea and Singapore allow direct injection of the salmon-derived substance, the US Food and Drug Administration has approved it only for topical use.

Some US med spas provide the injections anyway, while others work around the restrictions through alternative methods.

LaserAway, for example, offers microneedling combined with topical Rejuran application, which creates tiny channels in the skin to help absorb the formula. Rejuran also sells serums on its website for those who want a no-needle option.

Other pharmaceutical companies, including Mastelli Srl and Promoitalia Group, both based in Italy, make similar injectable products that face the same FDA restrictions.

The regulatory gray areas have drawn scrutiny. Comedian John Oliver highlighted salmon sperm facials in a recent Last Week Tonight segment, calling med spas the “Wild West” of health care because of inconsistent oversight.

A 2024 academic review examining polynucleotides in aesthetic medicine found that while some studies showed “significant improvements in skin elasticity and hydration,” others “reported limited or no benefits.”

Gabriel Chiu, a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, says he refuses to offer the treatment, despite patient requests. There are well-established medical alternatives for smoothing and brightening skin, he says, such as platelet-rich plasma injections, also known as vampire facials, in which a patient’s own blood is funneled into their skin.

“It’s more temporary and cosmeceutical rather than a true long-term correction,” he says of the salmon sperm trend, describing it as internet hype overwhelming medical judgment. “Curiosity sells.”

Updated: 6-23-2025

Chinese Makeup Brands Are Winning Over Global Consumers

TikTok’s brief shutdown in January pushed users to RedNote and other Chinese social media platforms, exposing them to brands like Florasis and Judydoll.

As the US Supreme Court mulled a legal ban on TikTok in January, the effects on social media platforms were profound.

Even before the judges ruled in favor of the ban—prompting the app to temporarily go dark in the US—an estimated 2 million TikTok users jumped ship to Chinese app Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote.

For a number of beauty-conscious users, what they discovered was a revelation.

“I realized that RedNote had a lot of beauty secrets the United States wasn’t using,” says Hailey Laine, a TikTok creator in Chicago who joined Xiaohongshu in January and continues to use both apps—RedNote for finding cosmetic inspiration, TikTok for posting about it.

In January, Laine shared a video of herself using face powder and bright pink blush to re-create the monochromatic glow popular among Chinese beauty influencers, racking up 300,000 likes and 2.3 million views.

That kind of exposure has been a boon for so-called C-beauty brands such as Judydoll, which started in China in 2017 before venturing into retail markets across Asia in 2021.

Judydoll’s total sales grew from $232 million in 2023 to $345 million in 2024, says Stefan Huang, group strategy director at Joy Group Ltd., the parent company.

Overseas retail sales grew 400% in 2024, thanks in part to direct-to-consumer online channels such as Shopee and TikTok Shop.

The company declined to provide specific figures for overseas sales. Social media, Huang says, “has helped a lot to build our credibility.”

The brand’s $17 highlighter contour palette has become a staple in the hundreds of TikTok videos attempting the “Douyin look,” named after the Chinese version of the video app.

The look includes a porcelain complexion, rose-tinted cheeks and lips, and wispy black lashes.

“Something that the Western beauty market doesn’t really have is a matte highlight,” says Jenn Ze, a beauty influencer in Toronto who purchased Judydoll’s palette after seeing videos about it reposted from Douyin in her Instagram feed. “This is the key.”

Videos of users gushing over Judydoll’s “curling iron” mascara have also tallied millions of views, helping Judydoll sell more than 8 million units of the $14 mascara worldwide since 2023.

In lieu of a bristly plastic wand, the product features a thin, spiral steel tube that fans laud for its ability to precisely separate and lift eyelashes.

“Where have you been my entire life?” gushed Nikkie de Jager-Drossaers, a beauty influencer based in the Netherlands with 19 million Instagram followers, in a video last January.

Even before the TikTok ban, C-beauty brands were gaining a greater foothold in non-Chinese markets. Lines formed in September when Florasis, a Chinese cosmetics brand that came out in 2017, opened its first European counter at the LVMH-owned department store Samaritaine Paris Pont-Neuf in Paris.

It marked the first time a Chinese cosmetics maker has teamed up with a global luxury retailer, says Gabby Chen, Florasis’ president of global markets.

Overseas consumers have been drawn by the cultural elements of Florasis’ packaging, which features traditional Chinese motifs from nature and mythology.

One of its makeup palettes, a $59 pan of nine eyeshadow colors intricately engraved with images of a phoenix, won Allure magazine’s award for best of beauty in 2023 and Marie Claire’s award for best luxury powder eyeshadow this year.

And Florasis’ $46 cushion foundation ranked in Vietnam’s top three TikTok Shop beauty bestsellers.

“It’s honestly one of the best C-beauty cushions I’ve ever tried,” Daniel Chan, a Singapore-based creator with 104,000 followers on TikTok, said in a video last May. “My skin loves this kind of slippery thin formula.”

Florasis declined to disclose full financial figures, but it said it has grown by double digits every year since 2019.

In February the brand made its debut on the luxury e-commerce platform Ounass, which is based in the United Arab Emirates, and says it’s working on other retail partnerships in the Middle East.

Despite the reliance on online sales, both Chen and Huang say they don’t foresee major impacts from US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on China.

“Luckily we have always been focused on the global market and not only the US,” Chen says. “There will be incremental costs, but it won’t change our global strategy.”

The rising profile of C-beauty brands marks a shift from past perceptions of Chinese goods as being low quality, says Olivia Plotnick, founder of Chinese social media consulting firm Wai Social.

Florasis’ products, in particular, are “seen as investment pieces,” she says. “They’ve done a really good job designing their products for a social media age and era.”

Updated: 11-14-2025

Americans Are Flying To Seoul For ‘Well-Aging’ Treatments. I’m One Of Them.

Increasingly, women around the world are using concierge services to book multi-day beauty treatments in South Korea that involve salmon DNA and lots of lasers.

Here, a firsthand look at a ‘fountain of youth’ vacation.

Dr. Suh Heewon touched my jaw, tilted her head, and delivered her verdict: “You have a little face, but a good neck.” I was sitting in Circle Clinic in the central Seoul district of Gangnam, surrounded by photos of impossibly dewy Korean faces with even better necks.

For my 40th birthday, I’d decided to treat myself to a special trip—joining the women worldwide who fly to South Korea for beauty treatments involving salmon DNA, ultrasound tighteners and lots of lasers.

In recent years, Seoul has emerged as a fountain of youth—a fountain of targeted radio-frequency waves you must stick your face into to reap the benefits.

Most travelers don’t come for dramatic surgeries but for what Koreans call “well-aging,” preventive maintenance that manages aging rather than fights it.

Dermatology visits by international patients nearly tripled between 2023 and 2024 alone, according to Seoul government data. Beauty pilgrims come for savings and procedures that can’t be found in the U.S.

While American dermatologists may excel at complex procedures requiring follow-up care, Korean clinics have perfected minimally invasive beauty treatments through decades of practice, says Dr. Teo Soleymani, a dermatologist and adjunct faculty member at the University of Southern California.

Soleymani, who has studied the Korean dermatology field, estimates that his Korean counterparts see triple the number of clients as his American colleagues.

He considers the treatments offered at reputable clinics in Seoul—even those not available stateside yet—to be generally safe, noting that patients need to determine what works for their skin regardless of where they get treated.

Japanese or Chinese people account for most of Seoul’s medical tourists, but Americans now rank third, with over 75,000 arriving for beauty treatments in the last year alone, according to data from the city.

I’d found Dr. Suh through Jennifer Seo, who connects patients with Seoul’s dermatologists through her company Aneue Concierge.

Seo’s client base has grown considerably in recent years, thanks to the global popularity of K-dramas, K-pop and TikTok beauty influencers.

For a fee that starts at $750, Seo handles the logistics, vetting doctors, booking appointments and arranging translators.

Most clients already know about Rejuran (a popular skin injection made, in part, with salmon DNA) and want to maximize their Seoul beauty trips with multiple treatments. Her regulars return quarterly from cities across the U.S.

After Seo recommended Circle Clinic, I easily booked an appointment through WhatsApp. The next part proved harder: 13 hours on a packed flight followed by a rush-hour bus ride into Seoul.

The next morning, I followed texted directions to the clinic, where staff greeted me in perfect English. Before bringing me water, they even asked my temperature preference.

I had been surprised that regular Rejuran was missing from my treatment list, but Dr. Suh explained that many clients find the injections too painful.

Her clinic had developed a painless, “skin booster mix” containing Rejuran, but delivered via a stamp-like applicator.

Other procedures were less gentle. In a tightening treatment called Ulthera, doses of focused ultrasound were applied along my jawline (imagine someone snapping rubber bands against your skin).

Then came Thermage, jabs of radiofrequencies (imagine someone tattooing the inside of your skull).

Finished off with a soothing skin care routine, my face felt a little tender but looked more or less the same.

I was told my treatments would take weeks or months to kick in, slowly tightening and plumping up my skin. I left $3,200 poorer, clutching a tax refund receipt that would get me $200 back at the airport.

The next morning, I indulged in more conventional tourist pursuits, shopping in Seongsu and popping into an art exhibit at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza. I spotted women glowing with post-laser redness everywhere.

At Artist Bakery, a viral spot for salt bread, two Japanese women told me they’d come to South Korea simply to “travel”—until I mentioned my beauty treatments.

They grew instantly animated, asking eager questions and comparing clinic experiences. The woman behind us jumped in, asking for recommendations.

Both Ulthera and Thermage are available in the U.S., as are some skin boosters, just not the exact ones I got.

To get a comparable treatment with FDA-approved skin boosters, I calculated it would cost about $5,000 in Los Angeles. Factor in my flight and hotel, and I’d broken even at best.

According to Dr. Ethan Wonuk Hwang, who runs the Cheongdam Lebelle Clinic, I could have paid less at one of Seoul’s “factory clinics,” high-volume facilities that run with assembly-line efficiency. There, no one asks for your water-temperature preference.

Before my flight, I popped into one such clinic, the vast PPEUM Global. Its efficient and kind staff told me that, given my other recent treatments, a facial was my best option.

Since this was Seoul, a “facial” meant more than a cleanse, mask and some red-light therapy. For 45 minutes, a “Q-facial” machine sprayed, vacuumed, exfoliated and hydrated my face, delivering ultrasonic waves at two different depths.

The Price: $240. A far less technologically intense facial in Los Angeles would cost the same.

Traveling halfway around the world for beauty treatments might seem extreme, especially when some treatments haven’t received an official stamp of approval back in the U.S. Dr. Hwang says his American patients don’t seem to mind.

“They tell me they trust Korean aesthetic approaches,” he said. It’s only been a few weeks, so the full effect of my treatments has not quite kicked in, but to my eyes, my face looks brighter and a little bit lifted. Maybe I’ll have to make a return trip to top off.

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