PLAYING DERMA FOR A DAY
Butch Francisco
December 2005

If there was one course I could never have taken up in college, this would have to be Medicine. No, it’s not because I’m squeamish or the type to faint at the sight of blood. (I love blood and gore – believe me.) I could never have gone into Medicine because I doubt if I will ever pass the science (especially chemistry) and math subjects.

But if I were really forced into Medicine, perhaps I would have gone into dermatology because this is the one field that fascinates me. To begin with, this is the one area of specialization where there’s very little chance for me to kill my patients while under my care.

Whenever I am at any of the Belo Medical Centers, I like to play dermatologist by explaining to other patients about the procedures offered by the clinic. Of course, I am not supposed to do that, but they tolerate me anyway – for as long as I don’t insist on doing the actual treatment myself because there are always doctors on duty at all centers who are supposed to do that and not this quack you are reading at the moment.

Lately, however, it’s getting to be more and more difficult for me to play dermatologist because the Belo Medical Center now offers a lot of new procedures. Oh, the new things I have to learn.

So far, the most popular is the Thermage, which was introduced by Dr. Vicki Belo to the country only last summer. Thermage is like doing a facelift but without the doctor cutting you up (no blood). By using radio frequency waves, this procedure can penetrate deeper into the skin than any other laser treatment. It has two effects: 1.) Tightening of the skin on the face and at the same time lifting it, and 2.) It allows the patient to have new collagen formation, which gives the face a healthier and younger look. This procedure is supposed to last from two to three years. A lot of celebrities who had this treatment swear by it and are very happy with the treatment. You can go ask any of them – Lorna Tolentino, Cherie Gil, Albert Martinez, Troy Montero, Philippine Star columnist Mons Tantoco, Gina Lopez and Susan Reyes.

The newest procedure offered by the Belo Medical Group is called Fraxel, which uses an erbium laser to remove acne scars and pigmentation and smoothens fine lines and wrinkles. Fraxel works well with Thermage because it works on top layers of the skin – unlike the latter, which penetrates the skin’s deep layers. The two are a perfect combination.

Fraxel is a 30 minute procedure and topical anesthesia is applied on the patient before treatment. It can be done on the hands, knees or any part of the body that is wrinkled. Since it was introduced only a month ago, no celebrity has tried it yet – except for Dr. Belo herself. I actually saw Vicki some 30 minutes after she went through the treatment and noticed that she was red in the face. But an hour after that, she just had her face covered with make-up and she was off to the party of Anton San Diego. For the Fraxel downtime, Dr, Belo says you should allow yourself at least an overnight of redness on the body part(s) treated. But for those with really deep scars, you may have to give yourself a week of downtime because the treatment may really be aggressive. But it’s going to be worth it – Dr. Belo assures us.

To remove unwanted fat from the body, Dr. Belo’s latest procedure is the Smart-lipo, which has been in operation at the Belo Medical Centers for a month and half now.

The Smart-lipo actually originated in Italy and for this, Dr. Belo had to fly in and out of the great Roman city for two years to observe the procedure. (For a while there, I suspected she was having an affair in that part of the globe – but really it was work all the time. Sorry, Vicki!)

Now, this is how the smart-Lipo works: A laser is used on the surface of the body part where there is unwanted fat. The laser then goes through the skin and this makes the fat cells burst and melt and become loose – making it easier to lipo.

The procedure is bloodless, because laser seals the blood vessels. It also allows skin contraction, so there’s no more loose skin after liposuction – plus there’s minimal bruising. Actually, if you are scared of liposuction, you can still have the procedure. The melted fat will be left there – to be discharged through you know what. The downside here, however, is that you have to wait for four months to get rid of the unwanted fat and Dr. Belo herself says that it is not as effective – compared to having the fat removed instantly through liposuction. But then, it’s up to you to choose.

The one celebrity who can swear that lipo-smart is effective is Ara Mina. The other week, I went to the Belo Medical Center for a Power peel and I was told that Ara Mina was there for a Smart-lipo treatment. Four days later, to my surprise, Ara Mina showed up in Startalk to promote her digital movie Bilog and I saw how much weight she lost. It was only then that I remembered that only a few days before, she was actually in Belo Medical for a Smart-lipo.

Another laser treatment offered by Belo Medical Group is the V-Beam. It is used to treat scars from breast augmentation and caesarian section and removes keloids, red and hypertropic scars and visible and unsightly blood vessels and veins.

And then, of course, there are the other old reliable treatments at the Belo Medical Centers – like the Aptos thread (it lifts the face by using an almost invisible – like thread) and Mesolift (it puts vitamins to the skin to make it look younger). I don’t have the complete list of treatments on hand, but in the famous words of Toni Rose Gayda, going to the Belo Medical Center is like sitting in a restaurant and going over a menu card. Except that you don’t come out of there fat. Instead you emerge from the center looking better and feeling better about yourself.

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