There is a reason Death Becomes Her still feels strangely relevant.

Beneath all the camp, gore, and impossible beauty, the 1992  film understood something about us: we really do want to know how to stay young.

We Filipinos are no exception—we have brightening serums, collagen drinks, firming creams, facial massages, and a beauty culture that has long prized looking “fresh.” But the conversation is shifting. Instead of simply asking how to look younger, we are beginning to ask how we can maintain the quality of our skin as we age—and that distinction matters.

Collagen production naturally declines with age, affecting firmness, elasticity, texture, and the skin’s overall structure. Aesthetic medicine, for a long time, largely focused on correcting those visible changes. Regenerative aesthetics looks at the body’s own processes and how they can be supported instead.

For Filipinos, aging comes with its own baggage

The idea of aging gracefully sounds simple until you place it within the local beauty culture.

The Filipino beauty ideal has long favored youthful-looking skin and a fair complexion. “Bawal tumanda” is practically its own beauty philosophy. Even now, looking “younger than your age” remains one of the highest compliments you can give someone.

Then there is the reality of living here. Heat, humidity, and year-round sun exposure are part of everyday life, while concerns such as hyperpigmentation can present differently across our diverse range of skin tones. It makes the idea of a one-size-fits-all approach to aesthetics feel particularly limiting.

Aesthetic treatments have to account for more than the concern you see in the mirror. Skin type, facial structure, lifestyle, and even the result a person feels comfortable with all matter.

Perhaps this is where the conversation around aging is headed: away from trying to look like we have stopped time, and toward looking good as we move through it.

Seventeen years of changing with beauty

It is a fitting conversation for Aivee Clinic to be having as it enters its 17th year.

In beauty, 17 years is enough time to watch entire aesthetics come and go. Trends that once seemed indispensable have become dated, technologies have advanced, patients have become more informed, and the idea of what constitutes a “good” aesthetic result has changed, too.

Aivee has evolved alongside those shifts. With Drs. Aivee and Z Teo, the clinic has grown across medical dermatology, aesthetic medicine, regenerative medicine, wellness, and longevity. Its latest chapter is Aivee Star, a new luxury destination at The Shops at Ayala Triangle Gardens in Makati.

Aivee Star 

The opening on August 6 brought together familiar faces from Philippine entertainment, fashion, and sports. 

Charo Santos, Maricel Soriano, Heart Evangelista, Nadine Lustre, and Sarah Lahbati were among those in attendance. Olympic gold medalist Carlos Yulo was there, too. 

The new space brings together aesthetic and regenerative medicine, wellness, personalized care, hospitality, and design, positioning the clinic as a destination in its own right. 

The launch also featured a Four Hands Gastronomic Experience by Chef Josh Boutwood, chef-owner of Helm, and Chef Vix Rathour of Gaggan at Louis Vuitton in Bangkok.

The pairing gave the celebration another layer of artistry—and, according to Dr. Aivee, a way to bring something different to the opening of Aivee Star.

The idea was to create a five-star experience that extended beyond the clinic itself, with the same precision, craftsmanship, and attention to detail that Aivee brings to aesthetic medicine.

Great food and aesthetics may belong to very different worlds, but both rely on those details to create something memorable. For Dr. Aivee, there was also a fitting comparison: she envisioned Aivee as dermatology’s equivalent of a Michelin-starred destination.

Give the skin something to work with

But beyond the experience Aivee wanted to create around its newest destination is another part of the clinic’s evolving philosophy: regenerative aesthetics.

“Regenerative” might sound like a term borrowed from a futuristic medical textbook, but the idea is fairly straightforward. Rather than focusing only on correcting what is already visible, the approach looks at the body’s own processes and how they can be supported.

Aivee Biolift by Sculptra is one treatment at the center of this conversation. Its active ingredient, poly-L-lactic acid, stimulates the body’s own collagen production, with results developing gradually rather than appearing all at once.

And that gradualness is important. We are used to beauty that works quickly. Collagen, however, has its own schedule. The regenerative approach asks us to look beyond the immediate result and consider what happens to the skin weeks and months later.

So, what does it mean to age well?

Maybe this is where the conversation around regenerative aesthetics gets more interesting than the treatment itself.

We are still going to age—skin and faces will change. No amount of collagen stimulation alters that basic fact

What seems to be changing is our attitude toward those changes.

For Aivee, the move toward regenerative aesthetics arrives alongside its own 17-year evolution. Aivee Star is a physical marker of that next chapter, while treatments such as Sculptra point toward a beauty industry increasingly interested in longevity, skin quality, and results that have time to unfold.

The future of beauty, then, may not be about trying to preserve one particular version of ourselves. It might simply be about taking better care of the face we have, as it keeps changing.

For more information about Sculptra and the treatments offered by Aivee Clinic, visit theaiveeclinic.com. Aivee Star is located at The Shops at Ayala Triangle Gardens, Makati City.