Bellevue Clinic

Fast, painless beauty

TEXT: KARIN VENEMA | PHOTOS © BELLEVUE CLINIC

The Bellevue Clinic has a simple concept: they provide personalised care, tailored to the patient’s specific wishes. Plastic surgeons Erwin Lemmens and his wife Saskia De Smet are the welcoming hosts. They achieve astonishing results with the newest aesthetic intervention techniques. Numerous happy customers have benefited from laser therapy, plastic and cosmetic surgery, all performed under a local anaesthetic with minimal discomfort.

The starting point is a warm welcome in a quiet, discrete atmosphere. This gives a client the opportunity to relax with the surgeon and go over their specific request. After that, the surgeon proposes a treatment plan that takes the wishes and concerns into account. This is discussed extensively, so that the client is well-informed and can look forward to the treatment with confidence.

Experienced surgeons working to the highest standard

Lemmens is a well-established plastic surgeon with close to 20 years of experience under his belt. His speciality is figure corrections, of which he has completed over 14,000.

Lemmens prides himself on his personal approach to guarantee optimal results: “We know from experience which techniques work best on which zones, and which results can be expected. If the client is not happy six months later, they can come back and we’ll help them free of charge. This can be a very reassuring thought.”

Dr. De Smet is also a very experienced plastic surgeon. She mainly focuses on the aesthetic surgery like hair transplants and non-invasive cosmetic treatments like laser therapy and injections with muscle toxins. “We’re both very passionate about our work,” says Lemmens. “We make a great team.”

This is confirmed by clients like Kenny Abrahams, who says: “For me, I think it’s great that there are always two plastic surgeons who assess the issues. With the three of us, we discuss what’s the best option for my wrinkles. Also many compliments to the team that always manages to calm me down because I am such a scaredy-cat”.

Facial treatments to suit the client

Early signs of ageing can be controlled with minimally invasive methods such as tightening the subcutaneous tissues with a specialised laser, volume recovery at the cheekbones with the injection of body fat, or by minimising the folds under or next to the mouth with a filler or body fat. However, as these phenomena become more pronounced, a surgical correction like an eyebrow lift, eyelid correction, facelift, or neck lift can be requested.

“It all depends on the client and where they are in their lives. A lady in her mid-twenties might be ready for some fillers, whilst a middle-aged man goes straight for the eyelid correction and eyebrow lift. Both feel that they look more tired than desired, but the solution is individual,” says De Smet.

Expert laser remedies

While certain laser treatments, with ‘class one’ lasers, can be done by non-medically trained professionals, they will achieve very limited results. At the Bellevue Clinic, they use the most powerful (class four) lasers that can only be operated by doctors. They have six state-of-the-art lasers with 11 different laser systems.

Laser therapy can offer amazing results for improvement of skin irregularities, brown pigmentation spots, skin tags, discrete wrinkles, age spots, rosacea, birthmarks, small scars, varicose veins and so on. The Smartlipo is a type of laser that is used together with liposculpture to make the procedure less invasive.

The Bellevue Clinic is the only clinic in the Benelux that offers fast and painless tattoo removal. Unlike most lasers, which require at least ten to 15 painful sessions, their specialist laser treatment will remove most of the tattoo in three sessions.

Body contouring to get the right shape

Sometimes diets and training do not do the trick when trying to achieve a different body shape. For instance, the so-called ‘jodhpurs’ (fat storage that widens the body just below the hips) is usually almost impossible to train off, or the woman could end up with a gaunt face. A procedure at the Bellevue Clinic can help, however.

When you are planning a breast enlargement at the Bellevue Clinic, they always schedule a so-called ‘live sizing’ session, in which you try on different sizes of breast prosthesis under tight clothes. The two plastic surgeons are both present to expertly advise on a fitting decision. “Because men and women can have different opinions on breast size,” laughs Lemmens.

“The newest techniques are astonishing for fast results, and pretty much painless,” continues Lemmens. “I wouldn’t call it a ‘lunchtime lypo’, as you do need to recover. But compared to a decade ago, the developments have been remarkable. Just this morning, I helped a young mother with three children to regain her figure. Within half an hour, her belly, hips and thighs were slimmed down. As she stepped out of the clinic, happy tears welled up in her eyes. That’s what I do it for.”


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