Quezon City’s secret weapon

A couple of weeks back, I was browsing through the free TV channels and chanced upon an interesting feature on The Correspondents. Main topic was cosmetic enhancement through surgery and how this "need" has filtered down to "ordinary" people. Time was when cosmetic surgery was affordable only to the very rich, those with disposable income to spend on these costly procedures. And having undergone the knife, the patient goes into hibernation for a few months, only to re-emerge with a new look, sporting a brand new nose with a bridge so fine it belies the rest of the Asian face it belongs to. Or having eyes pulled up in slits, or jowls pulled taut behind the ears. And friends and family were not supposed to talk about it.

Cosmetic surgery has indeed arrived to the ordinary people. Proof is that it is so common some of the procedures are now just outpatient cases, more like lunch break sessions really. What I found amusing with that feature was that young people, some of them students or young office workers, talk so openly about cosmetic enhancement, like it was as common as a facial. Parents readily shell out P30,000, P40,000 if it means gaining self-confidence for their kids. Even more amusing is the fact that young men, students in fact, are now also availing of these services, the most popular of which is the nose lift. Well, in my time, I never had male friends who had nose lifts, but now we’re talking of young men in their teens or early 20s here, and they are bold enough to admit on national television that they went under the knife to have a bridge where there was none before.

But the most amazing for me yet is the fact that, while the producers obviously recognize the talents of both of the surgeons featured in the show, namely Dr. Vicky Belo and Dr. Juan "Jim" Sanchez, the show did not elaborate on Dr. Jim’s qualifications as a surgeon. Sure, there was a chargen stating the name of the eminent surgeon (Jim’s), but I was disappointed that so much was said of Dr. Belo and not enough of Dr. Sanchez.

Dr. Vicky Belo needs no introduction. She is prominent and qualified in her own right, but who does not know of the lady doctor by now? So much has been said and written about her that she is now a by-word, and that’s not only in the female or show biz world.

Dr. Jim, on the other hand, quietly worked his way to the top. Much of the credit in bringing cosmetic enhancement to the ordinary people should go to this doctor who shares his God-given talent to as many lives as he can touch. Making it affordable to more people is like an advocacy to him because he believes beauty is not the prerogative of the rich and famous. As they say in the vernacular, if in this day and age, you are still ugly, "kasalanan mo na yon."

Residents of Quezon City know of Dr. Jim as an excellent cosmetic and reconstructive surgeon. Remember Operation Smile, a charitable effort that gives free reconstructive surgery to harelip and cleft palate indigent patients? Dr. Jim was one of the first few Filipino doctors who offered his services for free to this annual undertaking. They used to travel to the hinterlands in search of young children who could not afford the expensive operation. Hundreds of indigent patients have benefited from Dr. Jim’s and other benevolent doctors’ efforts, and this endeavor, now a global effort by the way, has brought that elusive smile to the faces of these disfigured children, thanks to these selfless doctors.

Now, he is one of the few surgeons involved in the city’s medical tourism thrust. Did you know that Quezon City is now the Philippines’ "medical tourism capital"? Well, the good doctor is in the thick of the city’s efforts in this field as he was chosen to share his expertise by the city towards their medical tourism efforts. His expertise lies in the so-called Asian rhinoplasty (nose lift), blepharoplasty (drooping eyelids and eye bag removal) and mini/full face lifts. His nose jobs veer away from the Caucasian version and realistically take the full facial configuration into context to come up with a credible but definitely enhanced look. And because Dr. Jim fully realizes the responsibility he was thrust into when he accepted his role in the medical tourism efforts of the city, he has kept his professional fees to a reasonable level. In the Asian region, these fees are now in fact lower that the benchmarks set by Thailand and India, heretofore the leaders in medical tourism in this area.

What is exciting now is Dr. Jim’s latest baby, a first in Asia. Dr. Jim has pioneered a technique in hair transplant, a trade secret he developed through painstaking research and actual hand-on experimentations. The technique is less invasive, takes a much shorter time to complete, and with least rejection. Success rate is at a high of 95 percent, an amazing figure.

Hair loss is a reality, mostly for men in their 40s, 50s and 60s, but it is also a problem women tiptoe around, not wanting to confront it head on. But the problem of baldness for men and women is there, as glaring as a receding forehead in clear sunlight. Less hair means less self-confidence for most people — hair loss is at the threshold of aging, a sure first sign of it. Dr. Jim suggests that at the onset, professional consultation is in order. While toupees and weaved-on wigs may be the ultimate answer for some, a natural look is still the best alternative because it entails no maintenance and well, because it is natural. The transplanted hair is your own, not synthetic or, God forbid, somebody else’s hair tediously weaved into your own remaining hair. It is harvested from your own head, in areas thick enough to afford it without threatening to show signs of new baldness. It is a revolutionary technique, and if I dare divulge more or go into further details, I would be giving away Dr. Jim’s trade secrets which took him years to perfect. Listening to him talk in great length about this new baby of his made me sit in awe at this gentleman who does not cease his quest for knowledge and perfection.

Dr. Jim now has a full stable of health workers whom he has trained extensively to assist him in hair transplant operations. I have seen the actual video, and with a full team in attendance, he has virtually cut the normal time in half. The patient, also a medical doctor from the US, came all the way here in the hopes of gaining a full head of hair without spending as much for the procedure. There is a comfortable condo unit nearby where the patient can recuperate comfortably and in style. The condo unit is fully furnished.

The patient has since gone back to the US, with indeed a normal pate of hair, looking 20 years younger and, no doubt, feeling younger by at least that much.

If our country can build a name in this region for hair transplants as cost effective and viable as this, truly we would be a major player in medical tourism in this part of the world. In the drawing board are Doctor Jim’s plans for a major cosmetic surgery and hair transplant center somewhere in the metropolis. Exactly which city will be blessed as the site for Dr. Jim’s exciting project is not quite clear yet, but it is certainly going to have a big impact in our country’s medical tourism thrust.

Watch out for more on this exciting development.

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino.

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