More of what patients ask for by name traces back to Korea: the glass-skin look, subtle lifting instead of obvious filler, natural results with little downtime. That interest is backed by real spending. U.S. sales of Korean beauty products hit roughly $2 billion in 2025, up 37% year over year, according to NielsenIQ data reported by CNBC. And the momentum is shifting from skincare to the energy-based devices many of those Korean treatments rely on.
This piece looks at the Korean aesthetic technology behind several of the treatments patients are asking for, why that demand looks durable, and how providers can offer comparable results without chasing every device used in Seoul. For a primer on the underlying modalities, our overview of monopolar RF, bipolar RF, and RF microneedling is a useful companion.
Korea has become a reference point for what patients expect from aesthetic results: natural-looking, minimally disruptive, and progressive rather than obvious. That expectation is now shaping consultations well beyond Korea itself. The spending data reflects it.
For a practice, the relevant point is not the size of the Korean market but the behavior it is producing at home. Patients are arriving with specific outcomes in mind, and many of those trace back to a small set of energy-based technologies: radiofrequency, ultrasound, and microwaves.
Notably, several of the platforms behind them come from the same origin. EVERESSE, QUADESSY, and ULTRAFORMER MPT are all made by Classys, Inc., a South Korea-based manufacturer, and brought to the U.S. and Canada by Cartessa. Here is how each one works and where it fits.
Radiofrequency is one of the core technologies behind several of these treatments. It uses controlled heat to stimulate collagen, delivering firming and lifting without surgery or injectables. Two RF categories are most relevant here: monopolar RF and RF microneedling.
Monopolar RF delivers energy deep into the dermis to trigger collagen contraction and remodeling, which supports tightening and volumizing with little to no downtime. Historically, the category was held back by patient discomfort, inconsistent energy delivery, and slow treatment times.
EVERESSE monopolar RF, branded as Volnewmer® globally and manufactured by Classys, was designed around those specific limitations:
The clinical evidence is device-specific. In a study of the Volnewmer platform sold in North America as EVERESSE, 21 patients received a single session evaluated at 12 weeks with 3D imaging and the Merz Scale:
EVERESSE is FDA-cleared and Health Canada-cleared.
RF microneedling takes a different approach, delivering RF energy through fine needles at controlled depths to create micro-injuries that drive textural change and firming. The category's historical constraints have been treatment time and single-depth delivery, which often required multiple passes.
QUADESSY, the next generation of radiofrequency microneedling technology, also manufactured by Classys, delivers synchronized RF energy to three layers of the skin, the epidermis, papillary dermis, and reticular dermis, in a single pass:
Providers report the time savings translates directly to practice economics. "With other RFMN devices, the time it took to perform the treatment significantly cut into our ROI. Quadessy has taken an hour-long treatment down to just 15 minutes. It's a huge win for my practice," notes Mark Halsey, MD.
QUADESSY is FDA-cleared and available through Cartessa in the U.S.
High-intensity focused ultrasound delivers energy to precise focal depths, creating controlled thermal coagulation points at set layers, including the SMAS一the deep support layer surgeons tighten in a facelift. Reaching that layer without disrupting the skin surface is what makes it a mainstay of nonsurgical lifting.
ULTRAFORMER MPT, the world's most widely used HIFU device (22,000+ installs) and trusted in more than 60 countries, is also a Classys platform:
The lift holds up under objective measurement. A 2024 study in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Global Open used three-dimensional analysis in 50 patients to measure the average tissue lift at each facial region after treatment:
Paired with a monopolar RF platform like EVERESSE, HIFU enables a practice to address different tissue levels within a single treatment plan: ultrasound for structural lift, RF for dermal collagen support. Our look at Why Now Is the Time to Bring High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound to Your Practice covers the practice case in more detail.
ULTRAFORMER MPT is currently available through Cartessa in Canada only.
Patient demand from Korea is not limited to the face. Body contouring, cellulite improvement, and localized skin tightening are among the fastest-growing requests and require a different energy source than facial RF or ultrasound.
One device here is an exception to the Korean-origin thread: the Onda Pro is made in Italy by DEKA, part of El.En. SpA一not a Korean manufacturer一but earns a place in the discussion given its current popularity in top Korean aesthetic clinics.
Onda Pro addresses the body-contouring gap with Coolwaves, a 2.45 GHz microwave energy designed to bypass the skin's surface and selectively heat subcutaneous tissue. At the same time, a continuous-contact cooling system keeps the surface comfortable. Three handpieces let providers tailor treatment by depth and area:
With more than 4,500 ONDA devices in use globally and no consumables, it offers a favorable ROI profile for difficult-to-treat areas.
Meeting this demand comes down to matching the right technology to each patient's goal: monopolar RF for lifting and volumizing, RF microneedling for texture and tone, focused ultrasound for structural lift, and microwave energy for body contouring.
This is where Cartessa Aesthetics comes in. Cartessa sources the world's leading aesthetic devices for U.S. and Canadian dermatologists, plastic surgeons, cosmetic physicians, and medical spas, then backs them with clinical training, marketing resources, and one-on-one practice development.
Independent from any single manufacturer, Cartessa vets every device against a three-point standard: better clinical efficacy, an improved patient experience, and achievable ROI, so the recommendation is always the technology that fits your patients and your goals rather than one manufacturer's catalog.
To learn more about how EVERESSE, QUADESSY, ULTRAFORMER MPT, and Onda Pro can help your practice meet growing patient demand for Korean-inspired aesthetic results, contact our team today.