Undereye Bags Gone In 10 Minutes

by Linda Franklin

Sometimes you just get fed up with people telling you how tired you look.  It’s those dark circles and under eye bags that make you look like you haven’t slept in weeks.  Concealer can help but too often it just accentuates what you are trying to hide.

Now there is a more permanent solution to heavy under eye bags.

Promising to soften dark circles in just ten minutes, cosmetic surgeons are injecting filler into the eye bags for the new treatment that lasts two to four years.

Dr Alexander Rivkin, a Los Angeles based-facial cosmetic surgeon, said of the in-office procedure which does not require anesthesia: ‘It really is the fountain of youth for the eyes.’

Tear-trough fillers: Promising to soften dark circles in just ten minutes, cosmetic surgeons are injecting filler into the eye bags for the new treatment that lasts two to four years. 

The dermatologist-offered procedure called tear-trough fillers, where hyaluronic acid such as Restylane or Juvéderm is injected to make the eyes appear better rested, costs from $600 to $1,000.

However injecting the eye area is not without risks. If the filler blocks a retinal artery, it can cause blindness, but that’s rare.  The usual side effects of the tear-trough treatment range from puffy eyes to possible bruising, which usually subsides within one week.

Melissa Beretich told Good Morning America: ‘What I’m hoping to come out with is to be able to go back to what I was doing four to five years ago, and not wear makeup. The ten minute procedure with New York City-based plastic surgeon, Dr Steven Pearlman, Ms Beretich said she ‘absolutely’ saw a difference in her eyes and felt no pain at all.

Dr Pearlman explained: ‘What this treatment is doing is camouflaging the bags. For people who only have mild [eye] bags, it’s a way to stave off the need for surgery by filling in that hollow.

The Real Cougar Woman is a 5-carat diamond who knows the importance of taking care of her health, beauty, relationships, finances and spirituality. Linda Franklin says, ”there’s no stopping a woman who has a strong belief system, passion and a dream. All things are possible”. Linda’s book, Don’t Ever Call Me Ma’am helps women of all ages tap into their power and live life to the fullest.

Acupuncture – The New Face Lift?

By Linda Franklin

Can acupuncture really give you the face you thought you’d lost forever? Yes, say the acupuncturists who offer the procedure. Not really, say more conventional cosmetic surgeons or dermatologists who love to inject Botox, and dermal fillers.

Martha Lucas, PhD, LAc, a Colorado acupuncturist, says after a series of 10 treatments (twice a week for five weeks), skin becomes more delicate and fair, and there are fewer wrinkles. She says the treatments also result in an erasing of fine lines and a reduction of deeper lines, less sag, a lifting of droopy eyelids, and a clearing or reduction of age spots. And, as an added bonus, she says, there is an overall rejuvenation that is not confined to your face.

Rhoda Narins, of the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery, says she thinks acupuncture has its place, especially as a pain reliever. But she doesn’t believe in it as a replacement for cosmetic treatments such as surgery, Botox injections, and the like. “Acupuncture doesn’t stop the muscle movement that creates lines,” she says. “Botox does.” Nor can acupuncture tighten or “fill” the skin as surgery or injectable fillers such as Restylane can.

Here are three of the more popular variations of facial acupuncture now being used.  See if any of them will have you running to the phone to make an appointment.

Constitutional Facial: Fine needles are placed at a variety of acupuncture points on the face, neck and around the eyes to stimulate the body’s natural energies, or Qi. Since muscle groups are addressed as well the acupuncture points, the face lifts itself, via the acupuncture points, through the muscles’ toning and tightening action. The needles also stimulate blood and circulation, which improves facial color.

Mei Zen System:  A typical Mei Zen protocol consists of a series of hour-long treatments that occur twice a week for a minimum of five weeks. Small, hair-width needles are inserted into specific points just under the skin’s surface to promote change on three levels: 1.) The underlying restoration of health that shows naturally in our appearance; 2.) Improved circulation of blood and chi through the dilation of local blood vessels, resulting in better distribution of the nutrients that aid in cellular regeneration.

Acupuncture with Microcurrents:  This style incorporates microcurrent stimulation on pressure points to rejuventate the muscle.  Can be used with or without the needles.

The Real Cougar Woman is a 5-carat diamond who knows the importance of taking care of her health, beauty, relationships, finances and spirituality. Linda Franklin says,”there is no stopping a woman who has a strong belief system, passion and a dream. All things are possible”. Linda’s book, Don’t Ever Call Me Ma’am helps women of all ages tap into their power and live life to the fullest.

Big Butts Hot in 2011

By Linda Franklin

How’s this for a New Year’s resolution: “make my butt look bigger!” Apparently this is the rallying cry for millions of women according to RealSelf, a popular reviews and information site for medical-beauty treatments.  Searches for butt augmentations lifted 39% in 2011*, making it the fastest moving topic on the site in terms of overall consumer interest. 

“Anytime we see a big spike in searches at our website for a particular procedure, it indicates a dramatic increase in consumer attention. In 2011 lifting and enhancing the butt topped the list, and we foresee this holding strong for 2012 as well,” said Alicia Nakamoto, VP of Community for RealSelf. 

“There are some definite pop culture cues driving this trend and where the waif look was once in, women now want to know how to get a fuller backside!”

Rounding out butt enhancement surgeries, RealSelf analyzed more than 20 million searches performed at its site in 2011 to find the biggest movers in terms of consumer interest, indicating these will also be the hot trends to watch in 2012. The top five movers are: 

1. Butt Enhancements (up 39%) – one of the most popular such treatments is the Brazilian Butt Lift, which transfers a patient’s own fat cells to enhance the shape and size of the buttocks, as seen in the before and after gallery here: bit.ly/RealSelfBrazilianButtLift. The procedure scores a 90% “Worth It” rating by RealSelf community members who have undergone the treatment and costs an average of $7,624, according to RealSelf data.
2. Eyelid Surgery (up 26%) – involves surgically smoothing out and lifting the skin around the eye area. Worth It Score: 74%. Average Cost: $4,268.
3. Lip Augmentation (up 25%) – aimed at temporarily plumping the skin and smoothing nearby wrinkles through chemical filler injections. Worth It Score: 56%. Average Cost: $1,619
4. Liposuction Alternatives (up 28%) – includes non-surgical approaches to fat reduction, and was led by increased interest in a new technology called CoolSculpting, which uses controlled cooling to eliminate fat cells. Worth It Score: 75%. Average Cost: $1,730.
5. Wrinkle Freezers (up 11%) – Botox is the most widely known option for this treatment performed on the face, which involves using botulinum toxin injections to block communication between nerve endings and the muscles responsible for the deep wrinkles, thus temporarily “freezing” the wrinkles. Botox Worth It Score: 65%. Average Cost: $487.

To learn more about specific cosmetic procedures – including before and after images, treatment overviews, Worth It ratings, average costs and even questions and answers with board-certified physicians – visit www.realself.com/reviews. 

 

The Real Cougar Woman is a 5-carat diamond who knows the importance of taking care of her health, beauty, relationships, finances and spirituality. Linda Franklin says,”there is no stopping a woman who has a strong belief system, passion and a dream. All things are possible”. Linda’s book, Don’t Ever Call Me Ma’am helps women of all ages tap into their power and live life to the fullest.

Cindy Crawford – What Have You Done?

 by Linda Franklin

Cindy Crawford admits she has used cosmetic enhancements. That’s unusual given the fact that she has her own skin care line called Meaningful Beauty, which brags that it’s “Cindy’s anti-aging secret”.  

There’s no way to stop the natural  aging process.  It happens to all of us and it first shows up on our faces.  The cheekbones start to drop making them look lower and flatter.  The face looks more oblong losing what the doctors call the “triangle of youth”.  And, if that’s not enough, the lips turn down at the corners, creating an inverse triangle.

Today, rather than using old face lift methods to pull the skin back and eradicate wrinkles, cosmetic surgeons found that reinstating the golden triangle is what women want.  They do that by adding fillers to the cheekbone that supposedly will bring back the illusion of youth.  

It is this kind of procedure that dermatologists are suggesting could be behind Cindy’s newly plumped-up cheekbones.  

Women all over are doing what Cindy did and they all end up looking exactly alike.  Look at the faces the next time you are with a group of women and you will immediately pick out the ones who have been injected with the lastest filler.

I don’t know about you but when I saw this picture of Cindy I didn’t recognize her.  She has such a beautiful face, why would she want to look like every other costmetic enhanced woman. 

I have no obection to wanting to look your best, just opt for the more subtle approach.  Chipmunk cheek belong on chipmunks.

The Real Cougar Woman is a 5-carat diamond who knows the importance of taking care of her health, beauty, relationships, finances and spirituality. Linda Franklin says,”there is no stopping a woman who has a strong belief system, passion and a dream. All things are possible”. Linda’s book, Don’t Ever Call Me Ma’am helps women of all ages tap into their power and live life to the fullest.

Plastic Surgey Boosted This Woman’s Career

by Linda Franklin

A female Wall Street investment banker believes that her career has been boosted by an arsenal of cosmetic surgery.

The anonymous woman – who says that her life motto is A Chorus Line’s ‘Keep the best of you, do the rest of you’ – has undergone ten different operations to achieve a ‘killer body’ and is convinced that the drastic changes are the making of her career.

Speaking with Oprah.com, the 55-year-old said she’d started with liposuction on her thighs at age 24.  That was followed by breast implants – then a nose job: ‘Twice – the first one was botched. I had my ears pinned back. My eyes done. A forehead lift. Filler in my lips. And then lip surgery to repair the damage done by the filler. I had a tummy tuck. A facelift. And I’ve had my teeth veneered.’

She says that the work changed her life.

‘Not only did my romantic options explode, but my career instantly shifted into a higher gear. I was suddenly being courted by senior partners, included in meetings with the CEOs and CFOs of current and prospective clients. 

‘That’s when I began to believe that the surgeries were an investment.’ 

‘Having a killer body gave me a kind of confidence I’d never had. But the way men reacted to me after my first surgery was the way I thought people would treat me if I had suddenly become famous.

‘It was clear the reaction had nothing to do with who I really am. I’m not as vulnerable as I was before my surgeries, and I’m more careful about who I choose to be with. I choose people who love me for me.’

Certainly, her career was already on the upswing in her early 20s when she first went under the knife. She admits that despite ‘becoming very successful as an investment banker at a big Wall Street firm,’ her first operation was very much driven by a self-esteem of ‘zero.’

Looking ahead, this woman says that she has taken a lead from her CFO, who advised her that ‘it’s critical to allocate adequate resources to asset maintenance.’

One reader at Oprah, writes that she was ‘furious’ at being passed over for promotions for being ‘too overweight,’ despite having a ‘mover and shaker’ position at a major company.

While another said, ”Face it: we live in a culture, no matter what industry you work in, that values youth and beauty. We can fight that fight but we can’t alter the entire culture in one person’s lifetime.’

So what do you think?  This flies in the face of inner beauty trumps outer beauty and is likely to anger women who campaign for self-esteem and body confidence – as well as those in corporate jobs to whom the news may come as no surprise. 

Looks are a part of the equation, whether we want to accept it or not.

The Real Cougar Woman is a 5-carat diamond who knows the importance of taking care of her health, beauty, relationships, finances and spirituality.  Linda Franklin says,”there is no stopping a woman who has a strong belief system, passion and a dream. All things are possible”. Linda’s book, Don’t Ever Call Me Ma’am helps women of all ages tap into their power and live life to the fullest.

Skin Cell Injections – Do They Work?

by Linda Franklin – The Real Cougar Woman

 The relentless quest for beauty means we can’t wait to hear about the next best thing. And the product generating the most buzz at the moment is Laviv.  Some think this new anti-aging wonder product will blow Botox out of the water.

The treatment — which involves re-injecting the body’s own cells into the face in a bid to eliminate wrinkles — has just been approved by the FDA and will be available in the U.S. this Fall. 

The procedure starts with a biopsy, or tissue sample, being taken from behind the ear. The cells of interest are fibroblasts, which produce collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid — compounds known to give skin a smooth and plump appearance.

These cells are then cultured in a lab for 90 days, and millions of new fibroblasts are created. Over the course of three sessions (spaced around five weeks apart), the fibroblasts are re-injected into the patient. The theory is that these injected fibroblasts stimulate the activity of those already in the skin, leading, after a few months, to firmer, plumper skin.

If any of this is starting to sound slightly familiar, that might be because, despite the claims, Laviv isn’t exactly new technology.  You might remember it as Isolagen, a process dubbed as ‘grow your own   Isolagen was launched in the U.S. Despite the fact that, once extracted, the cells were grown in a serum derived from cows, the process gained a reputation as ‘natural’.

The July issue of  Vogue, trumpets ‘the new trend in dermatology — grow your own filler’. But even if consumers are interested, there’s still interested in the price tag and of course reults. The data submitted to the FDA shows that six months after the final treatment, independent evaluators were asked to assess before and after photographs of patients treated either with Laviv or with a placebo.

The evaluators judged that in around 64 per cent of people treated with Laviv, they could see a difference; but then, they also saw a difference in around 36 per cent of those treated with a placebo.  And, that may not be good enough.‘Fillers such as Juvederm and Sculptra are about a tenth of the price of Laviv, and you know you’re going to get a result in every patient.

The Real Cougar Woman is a 5-carat diamond who knows the importance of taking care of her health, beauty, relationships, finances and spirituality. Linda Franklin says,”there is no stopping a woman who has a strong belief system, passion and a dream. All things are possible”. Linda’s book, Don’t Ever Call Me Ma’am helps women of all ages tap into their power and live life to the fullest.