Q. Can I get a telemedicine prescription for diet herbal medicine in Mapo-gu, Seoul?

First, let me explain the conditions for telemedicine. Under medical law, a Korean medicine doctor cannot prescribe without seeing the patient in person, but there are exceptions. 1) If you have already been treated at our clinic—for example, if you came in a month ago for a consultation with pulse and tongue diagnosis and took herbal medicine—then we can do a brief check on symptom changes and re-prescribe via telemedicine. 2) For those with chronic conditions requiring long-term medication—such as stable thyroid or diabetes—you can adjust prescriptions remotely every 3–6 months, provided you have an in-person visit in between. First-time visitors must come in person because Korean medicine relies on direct assessment of constitution, pulse, and tongue to make a proper prescription. This is especially important for diet herbal medicine, which needs accurate evaluation of fluid metabolism and spleen deficiency (脾虛). The telemedicine process is simple: schedule a consultation via our clinic app or phone, and the doctor will ask about your recent condition (appetite, digestion, bowel movements, sleep, edema, etc.) to adjust your existing prescription. Once the prescription is ready, we prepare it as a decoction (tangyack) or pills (hwan-yak) and ship it to you via courier. This service is available to anyone nationwide, including residents of Mapo-gu. However, please note that since we cannot see your face during telemedicine, if you experience rapid weight loss or side effects such as dizziness or palpitations, you must come in immediately. For this reason, I generally recommend an in-person follow-up including pulse diagnosis every 4–6 weeks, even if it may be inconvenient at first—it ensures the medicine is right for your body.