Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Economics of Aesthetics: Glee, Charice, Botox and Belo

I am not familiar with Charice Pempengco, but I am familiar with Glee. It's a funny musical series that promotes the credo of being true to yourself. So imagine my disgust when I came across this chismis article, wherein "Doctor" Vicki Belo told the 18-year-old girl that her gum-chewing habits made her face big and that she needed Botox and Thermage -- both are anti-aging methods -- to make her face less round.

Um. My gosh. I can't believe anyone would buy that. I also can't believe Belo's audacity to actually say this kind of garbage in an interview. This article is very personal to me for two reasons:
  • Glee. Notice that the most popular cast members did not whittle down their noses or their weights because those are what made them stellar.
  • The ethics of Belo's medical group.

I remember a few years back when I had an allergy attack caused by the antibiotics cotrimoxazole. (If you're going to read that old post, scroll down for the negative points.) The drug not only gave me hellish migraines, it also caused me to break out all over. I went to the Belo clinic in Rustan's to have it treated.

The Belo "doctors" solution: Spanish peel. Which did make my skin glow so beautifully, but did not treat my allergy.

You know what else the "doctors" did? They basically told me everything else that was wrong with me aesthetically, starting from my skin color and then attempted to sell me glutathione shots. I think they're very much used to insecure women who aren't very comfortable in their skin. They probably have never come across people like me, who actually went to them for REAL TREATMENT. Which I never got. I wanted to get rid of an allergy, not get a makeover.

While the "doctor" was telling me how my tan is so out of season, I wanted to stab him with the closest syringe. If he had started on my nose (which I never edit in photos, no matter how much I am tempted to), I would probably ask him if he had needed to sell his soul just to look like a friggin' vampire. Ooh, the Edward Cullen look is so in!

I never did get to post about how my allergy healed. A friend, Danica Cervantes, helped me out by introducing me to her uncle, Dr. Gio Dimayuga. Google him and you'll find that he is a real doctor. Real doctors treat the source of the problem. Internally. They also tell you when you don't need any sort of procedure. More importantly, they will never feed you some crock about gum-chewing just to bamboozle you out of your hard-earned money.

(And probably your career, too, for I can't imagine Charice belting out while her jaw muscles are paralyzed with Botox. Maybe if she sings everything in falsetto...)


This is the height of irresponsibility, Belo. Really. Charice should not be getting Botox or Thermage at her age. You commercial doctors just keep "treating" patients who do not need your kind of "treatment". Ethical doctors tell patients WHEN THEY DO NOT NEED THIS.

There ought to be a law against people like you.



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Posted by Beatrice Margarita Venturanza Lapa at 8:04 AM
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21 comments:

  1. makes me wonder...did charice really buy into that belo sweet talk? or was she paid to get treatment and have her face and name advertised with belo? :D
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  2. makes me wonder...did charice really buy into all that belo sweet talk? or was she offered and paid to get treatment then have her face and name advertised along with belo? :D
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  3. You're so right! The day she did it, Belo actually twitted about it! She said it this way, that it was for Glee. My blood also boiled at how she obviously used Charice as an advertisement for her clinic. I hated how she did that, and I knew people would exaggerate this info na naman. Which I was right, na exaggerate to the point of reaching the international media....
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  4. Gosh, I hope they thought about the repercussions. This isn't going to make Belo (or Charice) famous. It's going to make her infamous.
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  5. Also makes me wonder if she can even pull off facial expressions (you know, 'cause she's supposed to be actually 'acting' on Glee). She'll probably be like a robot that can sing like a human being, the opposite of an autotune artist which is a person that sings like a robot.
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  6. Hahahaha! Our challenge for the day -- since all the female SoMA professors love to sing, especially Ms. Agnes: "Sing that without moving your jaw!"

    That's what we've been doing the whole morning.
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  7. That doctor sold her a crock of sh*t. Until women like Charice become comfortable with their body image, commercial quacks like Belo will be raking in the dough.
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  8. I boiled over this article pa: http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b191010_why_exactly_did_glee-bound_charice_get.html?cmpid=sn-000000-twitterfeed-365-topstories&utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=twitterfeed&utm_campaign=twitterfeed_topstories

    I mean hello, kung facial muscles lang yun, you don't go to a cosmetic doctor for that. Geez! Belo and that rep are a load of bull, taking advantage of a simple girl who's sheltered from the ugly of showbiz until now.
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  9. So right! Ang bata pa ni Charice to do this kind of thing. I'm not sure she understands completely what the implications are, on her health and possibly her image.

    Have you read Perez Hilton's post on this?

    http://perezhilton.com/2010-07-19-charice-got-botox-for-glee-debut

    And I quote, "According to celebrity cosmetic surgeon Vicki Belo, she wanted to make her "naturally round face" look narrow. ... Who the eff would do that to an effing teenager in good conscience?!"

    ^_^
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  10. Belo's emotions are as skewed as her overly sculptured face. Heck, she went back with Hayden Kho after a controversy (who knows if she didn't actually plant those awfully exploitative sex videos with him).

    She'd do anything -- say ANYTHING -- to get publicity and money. Her drone "doctors" speak the same way.
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  11. Very true! When I heard this news over Plurk I said the same thing. Charice is too young for this kind of treatment. I've been reading a lot of negative reviews about the Belo Group (sigh). NOT ALL WOMEN ARE INSECURE! Belo s*cks!
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  12. If the chismis is true mali nga naman talaga si Dra. Belo eh ang bata pa ni Chariice for a botox. But in all fairness naman sa kanya, Charice has a mind of her own tapos andyan pa mama nya malamang hindi sila binola to do it. Minsan kasi pag insecure ka you'll do everything diba? especially if you don't like some parts of your body. kahit anong bola o pilit sayo if you're not insecure hindi mo talaga gagawin yon. And andyan naman ang Mom nya pumayag kaya di mo masisisi din lahat to kay dra. Belo lang. It takes 2 to tango :)

    so all in all both parties were wrong on doing this treatment.
    ReplyDelete
  13. Malayo kasi age difference nila ni Charice. Even though Charice is of age, she is obviously not mature enough to make life-altering decisions like this. She was not informed of the long-term effects.

    And the doctor has a responsibility. A big one. It's called the Hippocratic Oath. The kind that could get her license stripped. If she even has one. Of course, I will blame her because I'm holding her accountable for violating this oath.
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  14. Hm. Ok...let me find a simpler analogy. Suppose you went to a dentist to have your teeth cleaned. Then the dentist just up and decided to whiten it and give it some additional treatments that you don't really need. Shempre the dentist has the power to say that you need it even when you don't, and you'll believe that dentist because he supposedly knows what he's doing.

    It's called deceit. That gum-chewing nonsense is a lie concocted to make a simple girl fork over her money or name.
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  15. i don't know. parang people are overreacting. yes, she's young, but she's of age still, you see. and botox is not a life altering decision. the results are temporary actually. i have big legs. i used to have it injected in my calves to make it look smaller -- since i was 19. i did it for 3 years. nothing bad happened to me. i stopped it because of the cost but if i had the money, i'd still do it. may be a vanity but it doesn't hurt anyone, it's not like it's surgery.
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  16. Exactly. It's temporary, which is why if you do it to your face, you'd have to do it all the time. If she can still sing and act despite the botox, then it's not life altering. But if it does affect her career, that is life altering.

    And apparently, it did affect her career because some of her fans turned away.
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  17. Botox wasn't in the plan. Charice really just came for a facial and Thermage (which is non-invasive procedure). Belo must've sweet-talked and brain washed her into getting Botox. Eh poor girl is naive. Charice's mother wasn't even there and did not even know about it until after the damage has been done. Le sigh. I know this because one of my friends is a super fan of Charice and is privy to some of the details in Charice's career.
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  18. @Anonymous
    That was one of my theories. I guessed as much. That was what they did to me. I needed an allergy removed but they did unnecessary things to my face.

    I think they do this with a lot of people.
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  19. What the doctors do kasi is bully you to death by telling you NICELY how ugly you are and you need to get fixed ek ek ek. Then you get more than what you bargained for.
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  20. LOL! you went to the wrong place. BELO is a dermatologist / cosmetic surgeon(modifies or improves the appearance, defect), you should've went to a pediatrician, general practitioner, internist, allergist or pulmonologist coz they can treat allergies and asthma. Vicky Belo is a real doctor and you should be aware that there are different types of doctors and what they do depends on their field of specialty. :D
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  21. LOL, of course I'm aware that there are many types of doctor because I am going to sporting the title soon. In any case, I don't think that's the point of my blog entry. :)
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