Biofox is a brand born from twenty years of on-the-ground experience in the esthetics industry, combining technology, education, and marketing into a single system. Signature Magazine met Cho Ye-na, CEO of Dermanova, who has transformed operations at more than 500 professional skincare clinics nationwide by pairing an EGF solution with microjet treatment technology.
Questions.
What is the background that led you into this industry, and how would you describe your career and history since then?
For 20 years, I worked as the director of an esthetics clinic and experienced firsthand the practical challenges clinic owners face. During that time, I ran a shop that achieved notable results, drawing customers from far away. Through that experience, I came to understand, more urgently than most, that even good technology or products do not translate into revenue without connecting customer consultation, repeat visits, ticketing, staff education, and marketing.
I wanted to build a brand that goes beyond supplying products, offering education and systems that clinic directors could apply directly on-site. Today, Dermanova is built around Biofox and Microjet, developing skin conditioning care protocols and clinic growth systems designed to deliver both results and revenue in the esthetics field.
Questions.
You recently announced reaching 500 professional clinics at home and abroad. What core capabilities and programs helped Dermanova lead the esthetics market?
The esthetics market is now at a turning point. Where care once centered on manual technique and product application, the field is shifting toward understanding skin structure and response, and designing precise protocols tailored to each customer’s age and skin condition.
This shift matters most for customers in their mid-40s and older whose skin regeneration has slowed, those whose skin barrier has weakened from repeated treatments or strong stimulation, and those experiencing more advanced aging. For these groups, conventional approaches alone are difficult to satisfy.
What’s needed today isn’t simply stronger stimulation. It calls for low-irritation technology the skin can tolerate without strain, protocols that manage a weakened skin barrier safely, and care signaling that helps skin recover its condition.
POINT 1.
10-GF (Tenzief): The Core Behind Dramatic Synergy in Skin Recovery
At the center of this approach is Tenzief, Biofox’s proprietary growth factor complex. Tenzief combines eight families of activated FGF and EGF, matching the structure and activity of those found in the human body, with ten peptides, in a formulation unique to the brand in Korea.
Its flagship product, the Biofox Tenzief Microjet Booster, is used together with microjet devices. The peptides are engineered as proteins that match the structure of the body’s own factors, allowing stable performance at room temperature in liquid form. As a sterile, preservative-free product meant to be used right after opening, freshness is essential; it delivers growth factors into the skin to support tissue care and help build a healthy barrier.
POINT 2.
Cheonbang Care: Maximizing Growth Factors and the Skin’s Natural Recovery
Cheonbang Care combines microjet’s precise, low-irritation approach with Biofox’s 10-GF solution, and is the flagship program clinic directors most often adopt. Microjet is an all-in-one laser device, combining laser, air booster, and multi-ultrasound functions, that creates roughly 100 uniform micro-channels in the epidermis per shot to maximize absorption of solution ingredients.
Depending on skin type, up to 1,000 shots can be applied, encouraging multi-layered absorption of active ingredients. Rather than forcing the skin to withstand strong stimulation, the approach uses a low-irritation laser to create the right conditions for absorption, then applies Biofox’s 10-GF booster for conditioning-focused care.
Dermanova’s distinction lies in connecting EGF-based solutions to protocols that clinics can put into practice. Many brands talk about strong ingredients, but what matters on-site is which ingredient is used, how it is delivered and absorbed, how it’s explained to customers, and how it drives repeat visits and ticketing. Through its 10-GF protocol used alongside microjet, Dermanova helps clinic directors give customers clear explanations and a care experience they can feel.
POINT 3.
Reajue: Proprietary Microcurrent Energy Technology
Reajue is an EMS microcurrent device that draws on both the cell-recovery effects of microcurrent and principles from East Asian medicine. Rather than being a stimulating device, it’s designed to use microcurrent to support a relaxing effect without disrupting autonomic nervous balance.
With adjustable intensity and a focus on whole-body circulation, it’s built to help balance the body. By supporting healthier circulation, it aids the drainage of accumulated waste, aiming for visibly firmer facial and body contours before and after use. Clinics have also found that combining it with stretching increases the effect.
Questions.
Which product line creates the greatest synergy with Tenzief and Cheonbang Care?
The Biofox Tenzief Reverse Aging Cure Booster is an EGF-based product used after Cheonbang Care, rounding out the program. It’s built on technology validated enough to be distributed as a medical device, and is also used in cases where recovery is slower than typical.
The newly launched Medipress line is a before-and-after treatment lineup, covering pre-care cleansing and laser toner, post-treatment repair cream, UV care, daily care, and heat-related emergency care, developed to reduce variability between clinics and produce more consistent results. Additional items in the Medipress line are set to launch in stages later this year.
Questions.
How does Dermanova’s education system, which connects technology, on-site practice, education, and marketing, actually run?
Education at Dermanova isn’t simple product training. It’s structured to connect technology, consultation, marketing, and operations as one system. Every Wednesday, a technical briefing on EGF, Biofox’s core ingredient, builds understanding of the product and how it works.
On the first Tuesday of each month, a professional training session is led by six KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) recognized as top users of Biofox. Directors just starting out as affiliated clinics go through a one-on-one mentoring system that assesses their MBTI type and tendencies, identifies which areas, such as consultation, marketing, or care, they need support in, and matches them with a suitable KOL director.
Alongside this professional training, Dermanova director Shim Kyung-hee leads biweekly sessions on new microjet products and practical training. Online sessions via Zoom are also offered for directors with limited access, so they can learn regardless of time or location.
Questions.
How does the in-house AI application ‘Fatfoxy,’ built on 20 years of expertise, operate?
At the core of Dermanova’s education system is its in-house AI application, Fatfoxy. Rather than functioning as a simple resource library, it’s an all-in-one platform where an AI trained on 20 years of field experience handles consultation, education, and marketing together.
In the consultation area, content drawn directly from consultation methods used on-site lets directors apply them directly and see results. This includes role-play videos, about five minutes per chapter, covering consultations on devices, skin types, cosmetics, and pigmentation concerns.
In the education area, all materials needed to use Biofox and microjet are gathered in one place, allowing staff to learn hands-on skills through the app alone, without separate training sessions. It also provides ready-to-use materials for clinic operations, including menus, an online design shop, event banners, post-treatment care notices, and product promotional images.
Marketing is the most distinctive feature. Since social media marketing is essential for running an esthetics clinic, directors can enter a customer’s age, skin concerns, and completed care details, and the AI automatically generates Instagram and blog content. Rather than directors having to plan and write content themselves, the AI effectively takes on the role of a marketing manager.
Ultimately, Fatfoxy is the core tool of Dermanova’s AI esthetics education program, helping directors follow the headquarters’ expertise and systems through AI rather than shouldering everything alone, while working toward stable revenue.
Questions.
Ultimately, what kind of brand do you want Biofox to be remembered as? What are your future plans and goals?
Rather than simply being remembered as a good cosmetics brand, I hope Biofox is remembered as the brand that changed the standard for skin conditioning care in the esthetics market. I believe a time is coming when understanding and using EGF-based solutions becomes essential for any clinic director working with skin.
Together with microjet, Biofox aims to standardize low-irritation care protocols for customers in their mid-40s and older whose skin condition has slowed, while adding education, marketing, and an AI-based operating system to build an ecosystem where directors can genuinely grow.
Our goal over the next year is to reach 1,000 affiliated clinics domestically, and we plan to strengthen our organization around staff with a strong understanding of the underlying mechanisms. We also plan to restructure our KOL and supervisor training system to further improve current education quality.
Product line expansion is also actively underway. We plan to launch a lacto-PDRN line and mask packs, and are moving forward with expansion into the hospital market. The clinical care line for hospitals and clinics launched last June adds FGF ingredients to the same solution used in Cheonbang Care, maximizing synergy with EGF; it was developed after hospitals first raised the request.
Once regulatory approval is granted in July, we also plan to introduce a laser device that can treat faster and reach deeper layers than microjet. On the marketing side, we filmed content in collaboration with actress Song Sun-mi; content will roll out from June through August, followed by an official launch in September alongside a second marketing campaign.
Our next goal is to replicate the education, protocol, and marketing systems we’ve validated in Korea to set new standards in the global esthetics market.
Editor GAHEE, BAEK
Image Shutterstock
The Signature Magazine – July 2026 Issue