A healing sanctuary at The Fort

When we want to rid ourselves of the aches and pains, the woes and the wrinkles caused by the stresses of living in an urban jungle, we retreat to a sanctuary, a spa, an oasis that nourishes body and soul.

Or, we seek the expert opinion and treatment of a competent doctor. Sometimes, just knowing from a trusted doctor that we’re okay despite that throb and that tingle is already enough to make us feel better. In fact, the reassuring smile of a doctor is already a painless, healing shot in the arm.

Now, here’s a trendsetter, a trailblazer — a place that has the expertise of medical doctors and the rejuvenating qualities of a spa. Plus the aroma and warmth of comforting healthy food a door away.

It’s the A Institute at the Bonifacio Global City, the brainchild of dermatologist Aivee Aguilar-Teo and her husband, cosmetic surgeon Z Teo. They built the sanctuary and they give it their expertise — plus the expertise of many more specialists. The A Institute marries Z’s vision with Aivee’s passion.

“He plans it, and I execute it,” said Aivee during the inauguration of the A Institute last week. The couple pulled all stops for the inauguration of the A Institute, which was graced by well-known personalities and low-key VIPs — so called “Aivee Leaguers” all.

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Z says he is the type who wants to change the world, and Aivee responds by doing it one face at a time, one laser treatment at a time, one clinic at a time — in Las Piñas, at The Fort (first a 60-sq.-m. clinic then a 450-sq.-m. clinic at Burgos Circle), Megamall, and at the Commerce Center in Alabang.

“We build it, they will come,” is how Z would convince the initially cautious Aivee who would always respond with a “No” whenever Z would suggest an expansion. Z remembers how patients would patiently queue up for the six beds at Aivee’s first clinic at The Fort, how he could hear what was going on in the next cubicle. He knew it was time to widen Aivee’s world, even as he was convinced that her practice in Manila was where she belonged (he once considered combining their practice in Singapore).

The A Institute actually looks like a modern French manor, where you find modern equipment in rooms that look like high-ceilinged French drawing rooms, with beds topped by thick fluffy duvets, and bedroom slippers waiting for the patient in one corner. In some rooms, chandeliers are replaced by operating table lights — so you know you are at a medical facility that treats you both like a patient and pampers you like a guest.

“This isn’t something we’ve seen elsewhere. We didn’t copy it from somewhere,” says Z, adding, “We thought of this to fulfill what our patients want and need.”

At their three other clinics, the focus is on skin treatments. At the A Institute, the focus is on the rest of the body.

The A Institute is composed of several labs. There is the Slimming Lab, which has the latest body contouring therapies such as the Cellulift and Sculpsure, a noninvasive 25-minute procedure wherein 25 percent of treated fat cells go away. The Slimming Lab is close to the Aivee Café because they want to create a holistic way of losing weight, not just by machine but through nutrition as well. “We have a board-certified nutritionist based full-time. We encourage those taking our slimming program to use the machines (combined with) nutritional counseling and planning,” says Aivee.

Across the Slimming Lab is the Hair Lab, with three cozy individual hair pods for the Revage treatment designed to stimulate hair growth with low-level lasers effectively working within just 20 minutes a session. Down the hallway past the Hair Lab is the Snoring Lab. There is also the Ortho Sports Lab and Aesthetic and Plastic Surgery Lab.

There are specialists and surgeons from different fields like plastic surgery, oculoplastic surgery, ENT, anesthesiology and orthopedic surgery.

For Aivee, the A Institute is also what her patients deserve. Caring and nurturing by nature (she went into Medicine in obedience to her father, former Las Piñas Mayor Dr. Nene Aguilar’s wishes, hoping to take care of him, too, in his twilight years), she treats each patient like she/he is her world, deserving of a healing oasis.

So at Aivee’s clinics or at the A Institute, the line between clinic and sanctuary is blurred. What is clear is the healing that occurs in the place that can resoundingly claim to be both — a clinic and a sanctuary.

(You may e-mail me at [email protected].)