October 17, 2007

'Halting the aging process' and other quotes
What the experts have to say about Botox and dermal fillers
By COLIN STEWART
The Orange County Register

"We're almost halting the aging process."

– Dermatologist Marta Rendon, M.D., Boca Baton, Fla.

"People are less willing to go under the knife. Instead of a face lift, they want a dermal filler like Juvederm or Restylane. They want that plumper look, not the stretched look of a face lift."

– Certified family nurse practitioner Beth Haney, chief executive of Luxe Medspa, Yorba Linda

"When we age, muscle gets thinner, but we have that same skin envelope – it's going to wrinkle. That's why we have filler. (You're wrong) if you think you're going to improve these individuals only by tightening their skin, where they have loss of muscle, loss of bone, loss of fats. They may not lose it in their rear end, but they're definitely going to lose it around their mouth. ... You've got to fix that with fillers of some sort."

– Plastic surgeon Thomas Romo, M.D., Manhattan

"I see a lot of women in my office now who are 30, but they're totally worried. They don't want to look like they're 50, and they're going to start now. A 30-year-old woman came in with two kids and said, 'I was thinking about Botox. And I said, 'What about your acne?' "

– Dermatologist Ava Chambon, M.D., Santa Monica

"Lots of people in their 20s come in (for injections) when they see some early signs of age. I used to think that was too young, but now I'm comfortable with it. People have a right to decide how they want to look."

– Donald Altman, M.D., chief of plastic surgery at Irvine Regional Hospital and Medical Center

"(Allergan) has done a great job. … As their ad says, 'Everyone will notice, but no one will know.' "

– Sandhya Gandhi, M.D., owner and director of The Spa Retreat, Lake Forest

"Hair salons give Botox injections. Orthodontists give Botox injections. … Who knows? One day maybe even veterinarians are going to be doing these procedures."

– Dermatologist Marta Rendon, M.D., Boca Baton, Fla.

"Who would have thought women in their 40s would be fabulous, but there's a whole magazine ('More'), promoting the beauty of women in their 40s, 50s and 60s. It's incredible to me that that's where we're at now."

– Plastic surgeon Thomas Romo, M.D., Manhattan

"In the same way that hair coloring has become acceptable, or even de rigeur, so wrinkles are going to become a thing of the past. "

– Dermatologist Ava Chambon, M.D., Santa Monica

"Women want everything without the knife. They tell me, 'I don't want my husband to know. I don't want to take any time off.' … I'm seeing guys do it. They say, 'I don't want anyone to know.' ""

– Sandhya Gandhi, M.D., owner and director of The Spa Retreat, Lake Forest

"You're no longer stuck with what you're born with. In America, we have the right to transform ourselves. It doesn't matter who your parents are. It doesn't matter where you came from. You can become whatever you want, and this really has carried over into (cosmetic medicine)."

– Dermatologist Ava Chambon, M.D., Santa Monica

"(The right to transform ourselves) is powerful rhetoric … with a distinctly American quality. We don't like to be told we have any limits, and the body represents perhaps the most stubborn limit of them all. No matter how hard we try, we simply cannot will our genetic makeup to be other than what it is. .. (But) we have a lot of cultural rhetoric -- not to mention economic and political ideology -- that supports the idea that we can be free, limitless beings."

– Marjorie Jolles, assistant professor, Women's Studies Program, CSU-Fullerton