After 31 successful years in the industry, Dr. Vicki Belo’s authority and vision on beauty has never wavered.
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The Belo Medical Group Clinics–luxurious all-white spaces with marble floors, custom-made treatment rooms, and top-of-the-line aesthetic machines–have become a refuge for honest beauty. Dr. Vicki Belo, the woman behind the operation, declares that aesthetic procedures are not only for vanity but a tool for recovery. “I’m always trying to make things fair, make beauty a level playing field,” she says.
Her approach to beauty was developed from the young age of 5, having experienced bullying due to her acne and weight. “I had all this trauma and because of it in my five-year-old mind, I had an understanding that when you’re fat and you’re ugly, you’re not loved and you’re given away,” she tells us honestly. From there on, Dr. Belo is never one to shy away from talking about the advantages of being beautiful. But instead of just wanting it for herself, she wanted to empower everyone that one’s genetic makeup doesn’t define the personal identity. “All my papers when I was growing up, were all about the psychology of being beautiful.”
She went on to study psychology to get to learn the “why” of beauty, citing the “Survival of the Prettiest” by Nancy Etcoff, a faculty member at Harvard Medical School. “For example, they have studies that show that if you’re pretty or you’re handsome, you earn 20% more for exactly the same amount of work that others have, “ she says and even conducted her own studies as well. “All my papers when I was growing up, were all about the psychology of being beautiful.”
From learning that it was not magazines who brainwashed people to idealistic beauty standards but rather it is a natural human attraction.
“We had babies six months and above ‘till about nine months, they were in the crib. Then we would have about 10 people go over the crib, and I would time how long the baby would look at the person and if the person was attractive, the baby would look double the time of somebody who wasn’t,” Dr. Belo explains.
However, when she entered medicine and dermatology, she was frustrated that she couldn’t provide a cure for the problems or diseases she was studying. “Half the time I could only do palliative volunteer which means I can make you feel better for a month. But let’s say if you eat something malabo, you’ll get eczema again, it was horrible, the patients were suffering,” she says. But if there’s one thing that we have learned about the beauty expert, her passion and purpose never falter. By studying in Thailand, it led her to pioneer dermatological laser and liposuction in the Philippines.
Though the introduction of these treatments required time and constant effort for society to accept and let alone trust, Dr. Belo was prescient that cutting-edge science and bespoke treatments will be the future of beauty. “I think that’s also one of the things I am good at. I can spot good treatments in good machines easily.” And until today, she continues to discover tools of the trade and uses her more than credible resume to uphold the standard of their work. “These days, salespeople would go to clinics and say this is the way switches on and they have recipes for skin concerns, use this wavelength for that, but it’s not true because every patient has a different type of skin. So in Belo, we insist on long training.”
“I tried maybe 90% of our procedures. So, when I speak, I can speak from a doctor’s point of view, and I can speak from a patient’s point of view. I know what my clients are going through.”
Dr. Vicki Belo
“It is in our DNA that we treat every patient as if it is their first time. If it’s your first time, of course, you’re going to freak out. And from there we develop a bond and earn a patient for a lifetime.”
While she is responsible for countless A-list celebrities from Catriona Gray, Iza Calzado, Liza Soberano, to Anne Curtis, throughout our conversation with Dr. Vicki Belo, it’s clear that Belo Medical Group remains at the top of their game throughout 31 years because they have a long-dedicated history and genuine passion to help every individual experience the healing power of beauty.
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