When Dr. Aivee Teo first opened her clinic in Bonifacio Global City, it wasn’t just about expanding capacity. It was about redefining the patient experience.
“I didn’t just want a normal clinic,” she says. “I wanted something more luxurious—like a hotel, but you’re in a skin clinic.”
It was a bold vision for 2008. At the time, most dermatology centers in Metro Manila were compact and clinical, with sizes ranging from 100 to 150 square meters. Aivee’s new space? A 440-square-meter two-floor property with high ceilings and a dramatic hallway. Her husband, Dr. Z Teo, had encouraged her to take the full floor. She was hesitant.
“I told my husband maybe it’s too big, maybe we just get half of it,” she recalls. “But he said, ‘No—you’ll have a problem later on when space becomes limited.’” So they took the leap.
And with that space came a new kind of ambition. The design of the flagship clinic was carefully considered, elegant, and emotionally resonant. “We made the lobby beautiful. We had a chandelier, big mirrors,” she says. “It was something very different from what patients were used to.”
Dr. Aivee, who admits she’s always had a love for design and fashion, brought her personal taste into the clinic’s aesthetic. “I like putting clothes together, I like dressing up. I have a little gift of color palette, of mixing furniture,” she shares. “So I treated the clinic like that—I wanted it to look and feel beautiful.”
That intentional styling set The Aivee Clinic apart instantly. When the doors opened, reactions were immediate.
“Patients were walking in saying, ‘Wow, what is this?’” she recalls. “It didn’t look like any other clinic. And people just came.”
At the time, she wasn’t thinking like a brand strategist. “I’m not a business person,” she admits. “I was just going with my gut. But I knew I wanted it to be different.”
The move wasn’t just about luxury for luxury’s sake—it solved a real need in the market. Her BGC clinic became a sanctuary for high-profile clients and discerning patients who craved privacy, comfort, and personalized care in an upscale setting.
Without billboards, TV ads, or celebrity endorsements, her clinic’s interiors did much of the marketing. “We’ve never done traditional advertising,” her husband, Dr. Z Teo, notes. “It was all word of mouth.”
And what people saw—and felt—when they entered the space did the talking.
Today, The Aivee Group is one of the most recognizable names in Philippine dermatology and aesthetic care, with clinics that look more like luxury lounges than medical facilities. And it all started with a chandelier, a hallway, and the courage to think beyond clinical white walls.
This story is based on an interview originally conducted for Esquire by Henry Ong. Some quotes in this article may not have been published previously.
