Editor’s Note
**Editor’s Note:** This article examines the intensifying dispute between medical doctors and oriental medicine practitioners over the sale of aesthetic medical devices, following a backlash from the Korean Oriental Medicine Association after several companies refused to supply to oriental medicine clinics.
The jurisdictional conflict between medical doctors and oriental medicine doctors over the expansion of oriental medicine practitioners into the aesthetic medicine market appears to be spreading to the medical device industry. Following declarations by several aesthetic medical device companies refusing to sell to oriental medicine clinics, an oriental medicine doctors’ association has reacted strongly.
On the 27th, the Korean Oriental Medicine Association (KOMA) issued a statement expressing “deep regret over the recent actions of some medical device companies that have stopped or refused to sell medical devices, such as aesthetic lasers, to oriental medicine doctors.” The association further stated, “While these companies claim on the surface that this is a voluntary decision, we suspect they are actually abandoning normal transactions under continuous pressure, threats, and concerns of disadvantage from the Western medical community.” It added, “If so, this is not free corporate activity but a result of yielding to the hierarchy and pressure of a specific profession, fundamentally undermining market economy principles and fair competition order.”
The behavior of aesthetic medical device companies came under scrutiny after Classys, well-known for its skin lifting device ‘Shrink’, posted a notice on its website stating, “We do not distribute or sell our medical devices and consumables to oriental medicine clinics and dental clinics.” The notice also included the statement, “We do not provide after-sales service for our medical devices used in oriental medicine clinics and dental clinics.” The issue arose amid growing controversy on social media (SNS) over a promotional post from an oriental medicine clinic claiming to have introduced Classys’ representative aesthetic devices ‘Shrink’ and ‘Volnewmer’. Earlier, on the 10th, seven organizations including the Korean Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery and Laser Medicine issued a joint statement, stating, “Some companies are educating oriental medicine doctors and dentists on the use of specialized medical devices such as lasers, energy-based equipment, and injectable drugs, and selling products to them.” They warned, “If similar cases recur, we will take measures such as terminating partnerships, reporting to relevant authorities, and notifying members.” This is the background to KOMA’s claim that “Western medical organizations are continuously pressuring companies with threats like ‘If you sell equipment to oriental medicine doctors, we will take issue with it.'”
The conflict between medical doctors and oriental medicine doctors over the right of oriental medicine practitioners to use medical devices is a long-standing issue in the healthcare sector. The Korean Medical Association (KMA) was fined 1 billion won by the Fair Trade Commission for forcing GE Healthcare, the global leader in ultrasound equipment, not to trade with oriental medicine doctors from January 2009 to May 2012. However, the KMA maintains that while “the use of aesthetic medical devices such as lasers by oriental medicine doctors is beyond the scope of their license and poses problems for patient safety,” it has never pressured medical device companies, including Classys, to stop trading with oriental medicine doctors. Regardless of actual pressure from the KMA, there is a widespread atmosphere in the medical device industry to avoid formalizing supply to oriental medicine clinics due to legal risks. The medical community believes that most oriental medicine clinics obtain equipment through separate distribution channels, such as used equipment dealers, rather than directly from aesthetic medical device manufacturers.
Classys’ representative product, Shrink, delivers high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) energy, while Volnewmer delivers monopolar radiofrequency (RF) energy to the skin to improve skin elasticity and induce lifting effects. KOMA maintains that the use of lasers, RF, and other aesthetic medical devices by oriental medicine doctors is legally unproblematic, citing that laser acupuncture has been listed as a health insurance benefit item since 1994. It also points to the Daegu District Prosecutors’ Office’s decision in August 2019 to drop charges against an oriental medicine doctor for using an RF medical device (Eraser-Cell Rf) for acne treatment, as well as the conclusion of ‘no charges’ in all criminal complaints related to the use of CO2 lasers and RF devices.
