20/01/2026
Shim Young Ki, M.D.
A Record of One Man’s Choices and Transitions
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Shim Young Ki: The Path of a Physician
From Plastic Surgery to Veins, Lymphatics, Pain, and Cellular Charging Medicine
I was born on December 6, 1954, in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, Korea.
I cannot clearly recall the exact moment when I first decided to become a doctor. However, growing up under the influence of my father, who was a medical professional, and hearing elders say that “the eldest son must carry on the family line,” I naturally gravitated toward a life of healing. I was drawn to the idea of repairing the human body and restoring life with my own hands.
After graduating from Kyungdong Middle School and Kyungdong High School in Seoul, I entered Yonsei University College of Medicine in 1973. At that time, I held a firm—though still abstract—belief that a doctor must be both a scientist who deals with disease and a person who bears responsibility for human life. After obtaining my medical license in 1979, I began my internship at the National Medical Center, where I finally confronted the reality of living, breathing medicine on the front lines.
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1. Saving Lives by Hand — The Beginning as a Plastic Surgeon
My residency in plastic and reconstructive surgery at the National Medical Center laid the foundation of my medical career.
Cleft lip and palate repair, burn scar reconstruction, skin grafting, finger replantation, microvascular anastomosis, and tissue reconstruction—each procedure demanded unwavering concentration and precision. During this period, I deeply internalized the truth that “a single movement of the hand can change a person’s life.”
In 1982, I earned my master’s degree for my research on the histophysiological changes associated with nerve expansion and nerve repair using tissue expanders, a study that received the Academic Award from the Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons. Balancing research and clinical practice was never easy, but I was constantly moving between the operating room and the animal laboratory.
After becoming a board-certified plastic surgeon in 1984, I served as a military physician in a frontline infantry division, caring for the bodies and minds of countless young soldiers. Following my discharge, I returned to the National Medical Center as an associate professor, training younger surgeons while expanding my clinical experience in reconstructive surgery and microsurgery.
At that stage, I was unquestionably a “classical reconstructive plastic surgeon.”
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2. From “Looking Better” to “Getting Better” — The Shift to Varicose Veins
In 1993, when I opened my private clinic in Cheongdam-dong, I faced a pivotal question:
“What kind of doctor do I want to be?”
While aesthetic surgery was meaningful, my heart increasingly leaned toward treating disease itself. Around that time, I encountered non-surgical treatments for varicose veins in Germany—an experience that would change the direction of my life.
In 1995, after training in sclerotherapy at Eduardus Hospital in Cologne, Germany, I began practicing painless, non-surgical varicose vein treatment in Korea, where such approaches were virtually unknown. At the time, varicose veins were often dismissed as merely a cosmetic issue. Through clinical practice, however, I demonstrated that this condition is a clear vascular disease that, if left untreated, significantly impairs quality of life.
In 1998, I became an official member of the Union Internationale de Phlébologie (UIP) and refined my outcomes by studying ultrasound-guided sclerotherapy under leading experts in France and Germany.
In 2000, I took another bold step by establishing China’s first specialized varicose vein hospital in Dalian. This was one of the earliest examples of Korean physicians entering the Chinese medical market, and the institution remains successfully operational today.
From that point on, I was increasingly known not as a plastic surgeon, but as a “varicose vein specialist.”
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3. Beyond the Limits of Surgery — The Challenge of Lymphedema
After 2008, my focus extended beyond varicose veins to lymphedema.
Lymphedema was a condition notoriously difficult to resolve through surgery alone, and global treatment outcomes at the time were far from satisfactory.
I invited renowned French experts in lymphatic microsurgery and performed complex lymph node transfer procedures using surgical microscopes. However, the results did not meet expectations. For the first time, I seriously confronted the possibility that “surgery might not be the answer.”
Instead, I developed a new lymphatic drainage approach that combined:
• Lymphatic liposuction
• Stem cell applications
• Microsurgical lymphatic procedures
This integrated strategy produced far more stable outcomes than surgery alone, and I gradually became recognized as a “lymphedema specialist.”
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4. Pain, Intractable Disease, and Electricity — The Birth of the HOATA Therapy
While treating countless patients, one persistent question remained:
“Why does pain persist when structural abnormalities are no longer visible?”
Around 2017, I began re-examining pain and intractable diseases from the perspectives of cellular function and electrophysiology. This inquiry led to the development of the HOATA Therapy.
This approach does not rely on medications. Instead, it is based on:
• Establishing the concept of lymph sludge as a root cause of chronic disease
• Cellular charging therapy using microcurrent
• Cellular regeneration and chronic pain relief through restoration of membrane potential
In 2022, to communicate this concept more intuitively, I renamed the therapy ELCURE (Electric Cure). To date, I have secured three patents related to ELCURE therapy—covering pain-point detection, region-specific diagnosis, and integrated electrical stimulation methods—with three additional patents currently pending. By integrating lymphatic detoxification into this framework, the therapy expanded into DETOXEL(DETOX + ELCURE), proposing a new treatment paradigm for pain, intractable diseases, and dementia prevention.
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5. From Physician to Developer — ELCURE and Regentech
My clinical issue as a physician ultimately led to technology.
In 2022, I founded Regentech Co., Ltd. in Hanam, Gyeonggi Province, Korea and obtained KGMP certification. The result was the high-voltage microcurrent cellular charging medical device, ELCURE1000. it was approved by Korean FDA. Class II medical device..
This system embodies the following principles:
• Cellular electric charging
• Cellular regeneration, including recovery of liver and pancreatic function
• Pain elimination (Good-bye Pain)
• Immune enhancement
• Energy restoration
• Anti-aging effects
Along with ELCURE Regen Therapy, it promotes the philosophy of No SAD Therapy—
No Steroids, No Analgesics (Painkillers), No Harmful Drugs.
I now walk a new path as both a physician and a developer of therapeutic technology.
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6. A Journey Still in Progress
I remain in the clinic, at the lecture, and in research. I share medicine through YouTube and seminars. Once a week, I breathe through music—singing in a choir and playing in a band—to cultivate emotional balance.
My medical life can be summarized as follows:
From plastic surgery,
to veins,
to lymphatics,
to pain, intractable disease, and cellular electricity.
This journey is not yet over.
I continue to ask myself:
“How can we heal people more fundamentally—without the side effects of drugs or surgery?
And can we restore diseased cells to the vibrant, youthful state they once had?”
I dream of the day when the ELCURE cellular charging therapy I developed will be used in hospitals and homes around the world—as naturally as everyday household appliances.
