BUILDING A BEAUTY EMPIRE
celebrates Belo Medical GROUP’S 28 years Of Being Behind The BEAUTY STORIES Of SO Many
EARLY BEGINNINGS
Since 1990, Belo Medical Group has been a household name in cosmetic surgery and dermatology.
“Before, there were 150 of us scattered all over Medical Plaza,” shares the brand’s namesake and founder, Dr Vicki Belo, on the institute’s more hectic and humble start. With over 13 uniquely designed branches around the country today, she’s come a long way from her 40-square metre clinic.
Dr Belo was motivated by a wish to break away from the bleak, old-school dermatology clinics where she got her own acne treated. These were typically adorned with plastic flowers and torn magazines. She wondered, “how can you make people feel beautiful, if they don’t even feel beautiful when they enter?”
But Dr Belo didn’t invest in her appreciation for interior and aesthetics until later on in her practice. With the help of her parents, the pioneer spent her first millions bringing two laser machines to the Philippines, and has since revolutionised the beauty industry.
A PROACTIVE TAKE
Operating on the desire to make innovative services safe and accessible for all, the philosophy behind the brand was founded on Dr Belo’s wish for her patients to realise beauty at their own terms and to find confidence in their own skin.
Among many breakthroughs in cosmetology, Belo Medical Group was also one of the pioneers of Ultherapy in the country. This non-surgical lifting and tightening procedure harnesses micro-focused ultrasound energy to stimulate collagen production to sculpt without cutting and tucking into the skin’s surface. The machine is perfect for that much-coveted jaw line, combatting fine lines and sagging on the face, neck, and décolletage.
Undergone once or twice yearly, “the beauty of Ulthera is really that it has no down time,” Dr Belo says. The convenience of the treatment draws women of all ages and lifestyles. “A natural-looking, ageless ambiguity is what we’re going for. you just end up looking good, period,” she adds. This keeps others wondering, “Did she have anything done? if so, then what?”
With her knowledge of how people tend to nit-pick on flaws, Dr Belo believes she exists to help patients gain self-esteem and feel good about how they look. “i know that
“I CALL IT THE ‘BELO BEAUTY BUILDING’... BECAUSE IT WAS BUILT ON ALL THE MONEY I MADE ON BEAUTY.”
- Dr Vicki Belo
part of my life,” she says referring to her own experiences of being bullied for her acne and weight.
“The world has so many things that shouldn’t be the way it is. The only thing we can change is a person’s looks, so they no longer get attacked or bullied.” Dr Belo believes that continuing her life’s passion, she is able to empower others to become individuals of substance.
BRICK BY BRICK
Today, the renowned doctor makes her rounds in Belo Medical Group’s distinctly decorated clinics. “not a lot of people would agree with me but i want every branch to look different, as if each were a new place. After all, it’s almost like a different country given all the traffic you have to go through to get somewhere,” she jokes.
While the newly renovated BGC branch has been redesigned in a fresh palette of calming neutrals and bold coloured pieces, The Greenhills clinic is especially significant as the fruition of her hard work and dreams. here, she was able to integrate everything, offering both surgical and non-surgical procedures. The three-storey building also houses a cascading mother of pearl wall and her favourite isabel Diaz floral painting, the centrepiece from which all the bright interiors were inspired.
“i call it the ‘Belo Beauty Building’,” she says fondly. “Because it was built on all the money i made on beauty,” Dr Belo recollects. “you know the saying, ‘brick by brick’? That’s what i think of every time i look at it. That’s what i’m most proud of.”