Южнокорейский стартап Medicell запустил клинику лазерного лечения грибка ногтей с новой бизнес-моделью

Nail fungus is one of those problems that seems small until it is not. It is slow to treat, easy to ignore, and stubborn enough that people can spend months applying medication or visiting clinicians without knowing whether they are making progress. South Korean startup Medicell Healthcare wants to make that routine more visible and more repeatable with a clinic-based laser system called the Mycosis Laser. When I met Brian Kangsoo Lim (Medicell’s CEO) in Korea, the most interesting part of his pitch was not the laser itself. It was the operating model around it. Medicell is trying to sell clinics and salons on an easily operated foot-care service: the hardware, treatment workflow, and business know-how together. It’s important because nail fungus care is mostly an adherence problem. The FDA cleared the Medicell Mycosis Laser in March 2026 for the temporary increase of clear nails in patients with onychomycosis, the medical term for fungal nail infection (see FDA 510(k) database). The American Academy of Dermatology makes the same distinction: lasers are FDA-approved to improve the appearance of a nail after the infection has cleared, not to treat the fungal infection itself (see AAD guidance). Plenty of people want their nails to look normal again, but a clearer-looking nail is not necessarily proof that the fungus is completely gone. Medicell’s device uses 405 nm and 635 nm diode lasers. The FDA’s 510(k) summary describes the system as producing a photochemical reaction and notes that it has an LCD monitor to help an operator check the treatment area. It can treat both feet simultaneously, with selectable 12-, 15-, or 20-minute sessions. The company says its built-in camera helps position treatment more accurately and describes the system as low-pain. We mentioned the adherence problem earlier: prescription topical treatments can demand daily use for roughly 48 weeks (12 months), but according to the AAD, while a toenail itself can take 12 to 18 months to grow out. That gives any treatment provider a practical challenge: people can feel like the problem is gone and stop coming for treatment. It is similar to not taking your antibiotics all the way as prescribed. Medicell says its own treatment schedule involves weekly sessions over many months. During our conversation, Lim argued that a visible, warm clinic procedure could motivate people to stick with a routine more consistently than an oil or topical product at home. That is not proof, but it is a sensible observation about behavior. Consumers often do not abandon a treatment because they think they’ve already reached the goal when the symptoms fade out. The business logic follows from there: rather than simply selling a large device to dermatology clinics, Medicell is pitching “foot care centers” that could operate inside clinics or alongside nail-service businesses. The company says it has been building this franchise-style model in Korea, while also exploring U.S. pilots and a smaller home-use concept. The home version is where the strategy could become much more interesting (to me!), and potentially harder. Lim described a smaller, single-foot device aimed at people who do not want to drive to a clinic every week. In the U.S., distance and appointment friction are real barriers. However, the FDA-cleared Mycosis Laser is not the same thing as a cleared home-use product. Medicell would need to establish the regulatory path, safety controls, instructions, and real-world performance for any consumer version before treating it as a market-ready extension. Medicell was founded in 2020, and its Mycosis Laser is now its clearest test case. The company’s thesis will be proven only if clinics and consumers keep returning, if its operating model works beyond a small set of early locations, and if it can show clinical outcomes that go beyond a before-and-after image. The company is now out to earning trust. Filed in . Read more about Health, Incheon Startup Park and Korea.