Dr. Raul Guanzon: From enhancing looks to improving people's lives

MANILA, Philippines - Dr. Raul Guanzon grew up amazed at the saga of the doctor to the barrios. The doctor-author, Juan Flavier, eventually became a senator and continues to be a source of inspiration to many who want to pursue the noble profession of being a doctor. The title of the book, or series of little books, is Doctor to the Barrios.

Guanzon earned a degree in Medicine at the University of Santo Tomas in 1978. The following year, he passed the physician’s licensure examination.

He joined the medical staff of the Ospital ng Bagong Lipunan as a senior resident physician. In 1985, he went into private practice, entering a field of specialty hardly popular at the time in the Philippines.

“It was a fairly new field of medical specialization in the Philippines,” Dr. Guanzon describes cosmetic surgery when he opened his clinic. “But I felt then that I could make a difference in this field of specialization because I truly believed that my purpose would transcend the aesthetic and eventually contribute to improving people’s lives.”

He enrolled in the one-year intensive preceptorship in cosmetic surgery in 1984 at the Delos Santos Medical Center, followed by a four-month training in cosmetic surgery at the Jujin Hospital in Tokyo, Japan. Then he attended the graduate course on plastic reconstructive surgery at the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital in 1986, capping the year with a post-graduate course in dermatology given by the Philippine Society for Aesthetic Medicine, Inc.

The following year, Dr. Guanzon went back to Japan to attend the 10th Congress of the Japan Society of Aesthetic Surgery, followed by an advance course on cosmetic surgery, conducted by the Philippine Society for Cosmetic Surgery.

Likewise, he has actively and consistently participated in local and international seminars and training on cosmetic surgery, including a fellowship training with the world-famous cosmetic surgeon Dr. John Chong, who has clinics in Australia and the Netherlands.

Barely three years after he opened his clinic, Dr. Guanzon presented his first scientific paper in cosmetic surgery — “A Study on Breast Carcinoma” — at the annual convention of the Philippine Society for Cosmetic Surgery in December 1988. The study is a comparative analysis done over a four-year period on some 100 patients he studied during his stint as a senior resident physician of OBL. The paper presented in scientific detail the rates of recurrence in patients subjected to modified medical mastectomy and those who underwent radical mastectomy.

In 1994, he made waves after revealing the dangers of silicone, a material used widely for enhancing looks and sculpting the body. His scientific paper, presented at the First International Convention on Oriental Cosmetic Surgery, revealed that silicone injections to the face cause irreversible reactions like cyst formation, sloughing, and certain deformities.

At least two more scientific papers came after that, two of which delved into the most popular cosmetic procedures in breast implants. He discussed extensively a five-year study on breast augmentation, outlining some of the most common complications of mammoplasty. Then he made a scientific comparison between smooth and textured breast implants, focusing on each implant’s possible complications.

More than the cold, rigid, and staid side of the medical practice, Dr. Guanzon also had the chance to better understand people in light of the community where he lives, the place where he grew up, the streets and people he passes each day, and those he comes to interact with socially and in his many civic works.

Dr. Guanzon relates how in the early years of his practice, ordinary people would visit his clinic, asking first about the cost of his services. “I remember many of them telling me they were just ordinary OFWs wanting some improvement in their looks because it would improve their income,” he notes. Most of them were working as entertainers in Japan. Thus, not ending up as a doctor to the barrios, he would certainly make a good doctor to OFWs.

On top of his work, he still found time to render pro bono service during medical and dental clinics conducted by the Rotary Club of Quezon City, where he is an active and bone fide member. To give back, he also put up a clinic in his native hometown in Bacolod, giving time and extending help to his growing clientele, most of whom could not afford the more expensive treatments in clinics located in urban centers like Cebu and Manila.

“I would like to serve more, help more of our countrymen, even take part in the unfolding historic change the country is going through,” he vows.