Ex-Belo doctor says: I just 'retouched' buttock implant

MANILA, Philippines – A cosmetic surgeon denied yesterday that he performed the initial buttock augmentation procedure that businesswoman Josefina Norcio claims nearly killed her.

Norcio has filed charges against the Belo Medical Group, alleging that the hydrogel implant caused an infection that landed her in the hospital since last May. The BMG identified Dr. Francis Decangchon, who used to work at the clinic, as the one who did the procedure.

“I only did the retouch. I did not do the initial implant procedure,” Decangchon said. He said Dr. Reynaldo Cayetano, also of BMG, did the buttock augmentation procedure on Norcio in 2002, and he only did a retouch in 2005.

Decangchon clarified that he is not in hiding, and said he recently visited Norcio at the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City.

He said he resigned from the BMG in 2005, months after he did the retouch on Norcio, and put up his own clinic, the Aescultura Laser and Liposuction Center.

Decangchon said he is a specialist in cosmetic surgery and a fellow of the Philippine Academy of Medical Specialists in Cosmetic Surgery, Specialists in Cosmetic Surgery and the International College of Surgeons.

Decangchon said he earned his medical degree at the University of Santo Tomas in 1980.

Decangchon said he contacted The STAR to air his side, and talked to Norcio last July 12.

Unequal appearance

Decangchon said Norcio came to him with a complaint that the buttock augmentation done was not of equal appearance.

“The patient said, ‘I was disappointed because Dr. Vicki Belo was my doctor but she had Dr. Cayetano do (the surgery),’” he said.

Decangchon said he did the retouch to correct the discrepancy.

“The records of the clinic showed that it used hydrogel. Since three years from (the surgery in 2002) there was no complications, no rejection, no complaint of allergy, no complaint of infection, the logical thing to do is use the same material,” he said.

Decangchon said if there had been any problems with the procedure or the implant, it would have been apparent during the week following the surgery.

He said he did the retouch “using the same material provided for by the Belo Medical Clinic. All of us cosmetic surgeons, we just use the operating room, equipment, the instruments and implants of Belo. Since this is a high-end clinic, the presumption is that all of these implants and instruments, procedures are approved by the regulatory bodies, that is the presumption.”

He said the BMG has guidelines and protocols to follow for all its procedures, including how much material to inject.

Decangchon said when he removed the stitches after a week, “there was no problem, no allergy and no infection.”

“I should know because we saw each other even after the procedure. She is a kababayan, we are both Waray,” he said.

Several months after the retouch, Decangchon said he and Norcio saw each other again a few times because they played badminton at the same court. They saw each other again in the supermarket and other places in the years that followed, he said.

“She could have told me if there was problem by then. She even confided in me some of her private life,” he said.

Infection has external cause

Decangchon said neither the hydrogel implant nor the procedure is “the immediate cause of infection. The time was too long before it happened.” He also denied that the complications or side effects would occur years later.

Decangchon said the cause of the infection may have been from an “external cause” such as a boil, a pimple, or a wound wherein the infection reached the implant.

It is possible that she could have suffered from constipation that injured her buttocks, or a vaginal infection that spread to the implant, Decangchon said.

He also said the infection could have been triggered in other ways that he declined to state for the record, he said.

Decangchon said the media hype has affected his mother and other family members, as well as his credibility as a doctor and his business.

“I have done (surgery) several times, in and out of Belo. I have done this even with celebrities, which I would not mention their names. This is the very first time that someone complained,” he said.

He also denied claims that the hydrogel is not being used for surgery in the country and challenged cosmetic surgeons to say they never used it before.

Decangchon said the BMG did not even contact him before the story broke. “Why are they pointing their finger at me? Why did they not point a finger at the other doctor who did the initial procedure? I just did the retouch. Is it because I have my own clinic already?” he said.

Decangchon said he will appear before the National Bureau  of Investigation this week, adding that the NBI might subpoena the records of the BMG to know which materials were used in the procedures.

He said when he visited Norcio at the hospital, she said that she did not intend to drag his name into the controversy and only wanted authorities to investigate the BMG. Decangchon said he and Norcio remain friends.