The Rise of Women in Cosmetic Surgery: Dr. Donna Borres Eramis on Breaking Barriers

The Rise of Women in Cosmetic Surgery: Dr. Donna Borres Eramis on Breaking Barriers

August 19, 202611 min read

Women make up the majority of cosmetic procedure patients worldwide, yet women have historically been less represented among the surgeons performing those procedures.

That landscape is gradually changing.

In Cebu City, Dr. Donna Borres Eramis is part of a growing generation of female physicians building careers in cosmetic surgery. Dr. Donna completed her training and graduated from the Philippine Academy of Aesthetic Surgery (PAAS) and passed the board exam given by the Philippine Federation of Cosmetic Surgeons (PFCS).

A Cebu native, Dr. Donna developed her experience in aesthetic medicine and cosmetic surgery in Metro Manila before returning home to establish D’Sculpt Face & Body Center, her independent aesthetic medicine and cosmetic surgery practice in Cebu City.

Her journey reflects a larger conversation taking place within medicine. As more women pursue surgical training and establish practices of their own, patients are gaining more choice in who provides their care.

For patients looking for a female cosmetic surgeon in Cebu, that choice can be particularly meaningful.

Facial treatment performed at D'Sculpt Face & Body Center.
Facial treatment performed at D'Sculpt Face & Body Center.

Women Are the Majority of Cosmetic Surgery Patients

Women account for the large majority of cosmetic procedures performed globally.

Data from the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS), which tracks surgical and non-surgical aesthetic procedures worldwide, has consistently shown women accounting for most aesthetic procedure patients.

The reasons women consider cosmetic procedures are diverse. Some want to address visible signs of aging. Others consider treatment following pregnancy, significant weight changes, injuries, or changes to features that have concerned them for years.

At the same time, surgical specialties have historically had greater male representation.

This creates an interesting dynamic within aesthetic medicine. When a large proportion of cosmetic surgery patients are women, does having access to a female cosmetic surgeon make a difference?

For some patients, it can.

Why Might a Patient Choose a Female Cosmetic Surgeon?

Some patients prefer a female cosmetic surgeon because they feel more comfortable discussing their bodies, insecurities, expectations, or sensitive medical concerns with another woman.

That preference does not mean female surgeons are inherently more skilled, empathetic, or aesthetically perceptive than male surgeons. Surgical ability depends on training, experience, judgment, ethics, patient selection, and technical skill—not gender.

Patient comfort, however, remains an important part of medical care.

Cosmetic surgery consultations can involve remarkably personal conversations.

Patients considering breast procedures or body contouring, for example, may need to discuss pregnancy, breastfeeding, weight fluctuations, scars, skin laxity, or areas of their bodies they have felt uncomfortable with for years.

Facial aesthetic consultations can involve equally personal discussions about aging, self-image, asymmetry, previous treatments, and expectations.

For patients who feel more at ease having those conversations with a woman, access to a qualified female cosmetic surgeon gives them that choice. Feeling comfortable with a physician may also make it easier for a patient to communicate openly about expectations, concerns, and medical history—all of which are relevant to responsible treatment planning.

Are There Many Female Cosmetic Surgeons in Cebu?

The exact number of female cosmetic surgeons actively practicing in Cebu City is not publicly established through available professional directories.

For that reason, claims such as “the only female cosmetic surgeon in Cebu” or a specific number of female surgeons practicing in the region should be approached cautiously unless supported by an authoritative and current professional registry.

What can be established is that Dr. Donna practices cosmetic surgery in Cebu City and founded D’Sculpt Face & Body Center after developing her professional experience in aesthetic medicine and cosmetic surgery in Metro Manila.

Her presence contributes to female representation in a field where women have historically been less visible, while giving Cebu patients another option when choosing the physician with whom they feel most comfortable.

Dr. Donna Borres-Eramis, founder of D'Sculpt Face & Body Center.
Dr. Donna Borres-Eramis, founder of D'Sculpt Face & Body Center.

Who Is Dr. Donna Borres Eramis?

Dr. Donna Borres Eramis is a Cebu-born cosmetic surgeon and founder of D’Sculpt Face & Body Center in Cebu City, Philippines.

Before establishing D’Sculpt, Dr. Donna developed her experience in aesthetic medicine and cosmetic surgery in Metro Manila.

Her career progressed from practicing aesthetic medicine to undertaking further training in cosmetic surgery. Dr. Donna completed her training and graduated from the Philippine Academy of Aesthetic Surgery (PAAS) and passed the board exam given by the Philippine Federation of Cosmetic Surgeons (PFCS).

That progression expanded both the procedures she could perform and the perspective she could bring to patient assessment.

Aesthetic concerns do not always have a single solution. A patient asking about a non-surgical procedure may ultimately require a different treatment to address the underlying concern. Another patient interested in surgery may discover that a less invasive approach is appropriate for what they want to achieve.

Having experience across surgical and non-surgical aesthetic care allows a physician to consider a wider range of options before developing a treatment plan.

For Dr. Donna, that broader perspective became an important part of how she wanted to practice aesthetic medicine.

“Board certification isn’t just a title. It means every recommendation I make, whether surgical or non-surgical, is grounded in training, safety standards, and accountability,” says Dr. Donna.

From Practicing in Manila to Building a Cosmetic Surgery Practice in Cebu

Metro Manila remains one of the Philippines’ major centers for aesthetic medicine and cosmetic surgery, with a high concentration of clinics, physicians, technologies, and patients.

Dr. Donna spent years developing her professional experience there before deciding to establish a practice in her home region.

The result was D’Sculpt Face & Body Center, an independent aesthetic medicine and cosmetic surgery clinic in Cebu City.

For Dr. Donna, opening D’Sculpt was not simply a geographic expansion. It was an opportunity to take the clinical experience, treatment-planning principles, and surgical perspective she developed in Manila and use them to build a practice from the ground up in Cebu.

“This isn’t a satellite office or a franchise. D’Sculpt is mine,” Dr. Donna says. “It’s everything I’ve learned, built specifically for the community I come from.”

Dr. Donna continues to practice in Manila while developing D’Sculpt as her Cebu-based practice, bringing experience from one of the country’s largest aesthetic medicine markets back to her home region.

Understanding Dr. Donna’s Cosmetic Surgery Credentials

Credentials are an important consideration for patients researching cosmetic surgery in Cebu.

Dr. Donna completed her training and graduated from the Philippine Academy of Aesthetic Surgery (PAAS) and passed the board exam given by the Philippine Federation of Cosmetic Surgeons (PFCS).

These qualifications form part of the professional training behind her practice in cosmetic surgery.

For patients, understanding a physician’s background is particularly important because cosmetic procedures can range from minimally invasive treatments to operations involving incisions, anesthesia, postoperative recovery, and the management of potential complications.

Choosing a cosmetic surgeon should therefore involve more than comparing before-and-after photographs, prices, social media content, or trending procedures.

Patients can consider a physician’s medical and surgical training, professional credentials, experience with the procedure being considered, treatment facility, approach to patient selection, safety protocols, postoperative care, and willingness to openly discuss risks, limitations, and realistic outcomes.

A consultation should ultimately help a patient understand not only what can be done, but whether a particular procedure should be done in the first place.

Why D'Sculpt Uses Treatment Plans Instead of Isolated Procedures

A patient asking for a specific procedure does not necessarily need that procedure.

That principle shapes the approach at D’Sculpt Face & Body Center.

Rather than treating aesthetic medicine purely as a menu of individual services, D’Sculpt uses consultations to evaluate the patient’s anatomy, concerns, goals, medical considerations, and available treatment options before developing an individualized plan.

Consider facial aging.

A patient may initially believe she needs filler because she has noticed changes around her cheeks or lower face. However, facial aging can involve several factors, including changes in skin quality, facial volume, tissue position, bone structure, and skin laxity.

Adding volume alone may not always address the underlying concern.

The same principle applies to body treatments.

Someone interested in body contouring may have concerns involving localized fat, loose skin, muscle definition, or several factors simultaneously. Each concern may require a different approach.

A comprehensive aesthetic assessment can help determine whether a surgical procedure, non-surgical treatment, combination approach, or no treatment is appropriate for the individual patient.

This also allows treatment planning to focus on the patient’s overall goal rather than automatically matching a concern to a particular device, injectable, or surgical procedure.

Surgical and Non-Surgical Aesthetic Care Under One Practice

D’Sculpt Face & Body Center provides both surgical and non-surgical aesthetic care in Cebu City.

Its non-surgical services include treatments within skin rejuvenation, injectables, laser procedures, and body contouring, while its cosmetic surgery practice provides surgical options under Dr. Donna’s medical oversight.

Offering both categories within one practice allows consultations to begin with the patient’s concern rather than with a predetermined treatment.

A patient concerned about facial aging, for example, can be assessed for multiple possible approaches instead of automatically being directed toward whichever treatment happens to be available.

This has become increasingly relevant as aesthetic technology continues to expand.

Lasers, energy-based devices, injectables, regenerative approaches, and other non-surgical technologies can provide meaningful improvements for appropriately selected patients. However, non-surgical technology does not replace surgery in every situation.

Likewise, surgery is not automatically necessary simply because it can produce a more significant structural change.

The appropriate treatment depends on the patient’s anatomy, goals, medical history, expectations, and the nature of the concern being treated.

How Female Representation Is Changing Cosmetic Surgery

The significance of more women entering cosmetic surgery extends beyond individual patient preferences.

Representation can also influence who younger physicians imagine themselves becoming.

Historically, surgery has often been associated with a particular image of the surgeon: authoritative, technically focused, and predominantly male.

That image is evolving.

As more female physicians enter surgical specialties, complete advanced training, pass professional assessments, and establish practices of their own, patients encounter a broader range of physicians from whom they can seek care.

Dr. Donna’s career is one example of that shift in the Philippines.

She began as a physician working within aesthetic medicine, developed her experience in Manila, pursued additional training in cosmetic surgery, and eventually returned to Cebu to establish an independent practice.

Her gender is not what qualifies her to perform cosmetic surgery. Her medical background, training, professional assessment, experience, and clinical judgment do.

But being a woman in a field where female surgeons have historically been less visible gives her career another dimension, particularly for patients who specifically prefer receiving care from a female physician.

The reception area at D'Sculpt Face & Body Center in Cebu City.
The reception area at D'Sculpt Face & Body Center in Cebu City.

What Should Patients Look for When Choosing a Cosmetic Surgeon in Cebu?

Patients choosing a cosmetic surgeon in Cebu should consider the physician’s medical credentials, relevant surgical training, experience, patient-safety practices, consultation process, treatment recommendations, and approach to postoperative care.

A consultation should also give patients the opportunity to ask detailed questions.

Who will perform the procedure? Where will it be performed? What type of anesthesia may be required? What are the realistic benefits and limitations? What complications are possible? How long is the expected recovery? What postoperative support is available? What happens if the patient experiences a concern after surgery?

A responsible cosmetic surgery consultation should address these questions rather than focusing solely on the desired aesthetic result.

Patients should also be cautious about selecting procedures simply because they are trending online.

Faces and bodies are anatomically different. A treatment that works well for one person—or looks appealing in a before-and-after photograph—may not be appropriate for another.

Individual assessment remains essential.

For patients specifically searching for a female cosmetic surgeon in Cebu, gender preference can be one consideration, but it should sit alongside the factors that matter for any cosmetic procedure: appropriate training, credentials, clinical judgment, safety, realistic expectations, and trust between physician and patient.

Bringing Her Experience Back to Cebu

For Dr. Donna, opening D’Sculpt Face & Body Center represents a return home at a different stage of her career.

She left Cebu and developed much of her professional experience in Manila. She returned with additional cosmetic surgery training and professional credentials, prepared to establish an independent practice under her own clinical direction.

For Cebu patients, D’Sculpt provides another local option for surgical and non-surgical aesthetic care without automatically needing to travel to Metro Manila for consultation.

For women who specifically prefer a female cosmetic surgeon, it provides something equally straightforward but important: another choice.

And within the broader story of women entering traditionally male-dominated areas of medicine, Dr. Donna represents a shift that is gradually becoming more visible.

Women have long made up the majority of people seeking aesthetic procedures. Increasingly, women are also building careers as the physicians conducting the consultations, developing treatment plans, establishing aesthetic practices, and performing cosmetic surgery.

For Dr. Donna, that progress has brought her back to where her own story began: Cebu.

D’Sculpt Face & Body Center is an aesthetic medicine and cosmetic surgery clinic in Cebu City, Philippines, founded by Dr. Donna Borres Eramis. Patients considering surgical or non-surgical aesthetic treatment may schedule a consultation for an individualized assessment and discussion of appropriate treatment options.

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