FATIMA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER Announces Availability of ZEISS SMILE PRO Laser Vision Correction

Went to far flung Antipolo City at the Fatima University Medical Center. It's a private medical facility and campus for people of Rizal and nearby cities. This has been founded in 1967 and it has grown to give medical services for communities too.

Dr. Vicente Santos MD, DPBO welcomed us and was proud to announce that they are now 6 campuses and 2 hospitals strong. Change is happening and now, they are dubbing their hospital as the home of expert eye care.

They had Kuya Kim Atienza and Vice Mayor Reynaldo San Juan Jr. as guests who congratulated them on a significant milestone for acquiring something big, they call it SMILE. Their doctors explained this new procedure and the difference it makes in surgery.

In a nutshell, it is safer, more precise, this is a flapless laser vision correction using the VISUMAX 800 machine. This is what they use to do incisions, reshape eyes to achieve better vision. Now, they can perform a wide range of correction from -0.75D to -1000D. Doing this is again, minimally invasive, very gentle, and takes 10 seconds of laser ablation per eye. This gives patients short recovery times because of minimal corneal disruption and is suitable for patients with high refractive errors, thin corneas, and dry eyes.This is part of Zeiss Smile technology used in over 10 million eyes worldwide. There are only 2900 doctors/surgeons who can practice this and we're so lucky to have then at the Fatima University Medical Center in Antipolo City.

According to a patient who had undergone it and said "Lasik and Zeiss Smile Pro is different as the latter doesn't have flaps done. The recovery time is better and I can do work the next day. It had no pain. I went to Fatima because my family went here for different procedures and surgeries. My brother underwent Smile 10 years ago and the Smile Pro is better. It is very effective and I trust them."

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This is good news for those who need it. This new procedure will benefit a lot of Filipinos who want lower down time, even shorter than getting a hair cut or a dentist appointment. Zeiss Smile Pro can be done for patients 18-50. It is also an out patient procedure where you can to in and out of the clinic. If you want to know more about the Zeiss Smile Pro Laser Vision Correction and what it can do for you, call 02 8291 6583 local 206 or message them on social channels, just search for Fatima University Medical Center on FB and IG.

The procedure is in an introductory offer, approximately 99K for the Smile Pro. Go ask about it! 

Smile Train Philippines Holds "Every Day After" Screening for Cleft Condition Awareness

I was amongst a Miss Universe, Miss World, several more title holders, beauty queens, Smile Train Philippine executives, and volunteers a few days ago at Powerplant Mall Cinemas in Makati City. This was the screening for the documentary "Every Day After" created by Emmy award winning director Elisa Gambino who filmed this on location in the Philippines. Aimed to help raise awareness for the Cleft Palate and Lip condition, they follow around siblings Jary and Jessa, in their quest to get surgery for him.

Mr. Felix Grimares Program Director for Smile Train Philippines says "Every Day After the documentary holds a special place in the cleft community. As we share the complexity of this condition, this is also about the love of a sister. This is captured in this film, and I hope it drives support for our cleft community."

 Here's the press conference which happened right after the screening

Jary and Jessa were orphaned before the pandemic. Jary felt something is missing, he talks about it lengthily with his sister in the documentary. Jessa says "When he was born, our dad couldn't look at him, nor treat him like he exists. When I turned 18, I left for Manila to get help from a person who's had the same condition as he does. She connected us with an organization and got him checked. I wish he would feel different when he goes back home in the province. Ideally, cleft palate and lip surgery should be done during infancy but my brother is already 13 years old. Health workers thought he was my son, but I told them how our parents passed. He is also going through speech therapy, planned ahead on what should be done in the coming months."

This is just the start of Jary and Jessa's story.

Jessa adds "I was afraid of hospitals because when my Dad went in for treatment in 2019, he died and never got out of it. I am so worried about him. When he woke up today, he nudged me and asked if we look alike now (after the surgery). He told me I did something that our parents could not do."

"When Dad died, I was worried about what will happen to our lives. I told my live in partner Robert about it, he knew my priorities was with my family. He was okay with it, and knew why my brother should live together with our kids too."

Their struggles and experiences would be told in the documentary and hope people who watch it and learn that the condition needs so much more that just a surgery. It needs support from all over, including financial, emotional and psycho-social. This was shared to us by one of the execs from Noordhoff Craniofacial Foundation Philippines (one of Smile Train's partners). Smile Train makes it possible for all the procedures to be FREE, so if you know someone with Cleft Palate or Cleft Lip condition, tell them about it because you need to do the surgery early.

If you want to know more, please visit SMILETRAIN.PH and their social channels. You can ask about it and they'll provide you the information you need to do it. They also are looking for volunteers if you are a medical professional who would want to share your expertise and services for the beneficiaries. 

Here's Miss Universe Catriona Gray whom we got to talk to about Smile Train after the event.

As for the documentary, a local screening is in the works but it will be done in the near future. It will be sent to other festivals in other countries too to share Jary and Jessa's story.

Hope this helps!

Cardinal Santos Medical Center: The Good Things About Minimally Invasive Surgery

I am part of the population of Filipinos who would  never want to undergo surgery. It creeps me out, and those medical series produced in the US doesn't really help especially if there are very graphic images which I'm sure real doctors are quite used to. They're real heroes, even at the time of the pandemic they're at the hospitals and are making sure the medical needs of Filipinos are sufficiently given. It's a noble profession.

 With the advancements in technology, we now have a choice. The Cardinal Santos Medical Center earlier held a webinar and press conference to tell us about the wonders of Minimally Invasive Surgery. In the past, it would take a lot of effort to operate on people especially in the torso. Hospitals across the country already use this technology but not all have been educating ordinary joes. CSMC knows how it is vital to inform the public of the procedure as it is better than the old ways. This webinar was entitled as "Why Less Is More: 10 Things To Know About Minimally Invasive Surgery."

 

 Distinguished men and women who spoke at the webinar include Dr. Alfred Allen Buenafe the Executive Director of Cardinal Santos Philippine Center for Advanced Surgery (the prime MIS training center in the Philippines) , Dr Zenaida Javier-Uy who is the Chief Medical Officer, and Dr. Jaideep Raj Rao the Senior Consultant and General and Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeon of Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital in Singapore.

Dr. Buenafe pointed out the goodness of doing laparoscopic surgery and says “It helps diagnose a wide range of conditions that develop inside the abdomen or pelvis. It does it through direct visualization of the affected organs​. Surgical procedures like removing a diseased organ like a gallbladder, or collecting tissue samples for testing or biopsy can now be easy.”

Dr. Rao supported this and says "Doing minimal invasive surgery gets similar or even better results. The trauma on the human body is less so recovery is much faster." 

During the event, several patients who have undergone the procedure also gave their testimonies, of which mostly all healed faster than what is predicted. Cardinal Santos Medical Center wants this to be more accessible to Filipinos, starting with the Philippine Center for Advanced Surgery Training Center so more people can have access to world-class training here in the country.

To know more about the procedure or training, visit their official site cardinalsantos.com.ph.