Some try to put the best face forward on an ugly economyShare Monday, January 5, 2009 at 1:09pm Houston Chronicle http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/casey/6191343.html She can barely make her car payment, has cut back her grocery bills by using coupons and eats out only when she has a date. But by looking at her face, you would never know that Amy, a 38-year-old real-estate broker, is broke and desperate to find love. You see, Amy may be single, but not a single furrow or frown frames her flawless face. "Despite my finances, I refuse to miss my vitamin B and R shots," she says. Amy's "vitamin B" is Botox, and her "vitamin R" is actually Restylane, a nonsurgical filler that corrects facial wrinkles and folds, such as those laugh lines from your nose to the corners of your mouth. Compared to serious surgical cosmetic procedures, both Botox and Restylane (which may last up to six months for some) are far less invasive temporary fixes for holding back the heavy hands of time. In the dating trenches, time and laugh lines are no laughing matter. It is either supple skin or spinster's skin ? economy notwithstanding. "The economy is ugly, lagging and tired, but I can't be," Amy jokes, "especially if I am determined to find a match to suffer through this recession with." However, Dr. Aguilar says requests for the larger-ticket elective surgery procedures such as tummy tucks and face- or eyelid lifts are clearly on the decline. (The price differences can be staggering ? $500 for injections, compared with $5,000 for going under the knife.) While it may be too soon to tell how the sagging economy will really affect the number of sagging faces nationwide, a look back may provide a look ahead. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, 12 million Americans received cosmetic plastic surgery in 2007, a 59 percent increase from 2000. If this kind of increase continues, even in this economic wrinkle, it will only prove that preening, primping and plumping are pretty profitable prospects for investors! "People may be paying more with cash rather than credit, but our Botox and fillers are up 30 percent this year," says Dana LeConey from Houston's Institute of Anti-Aging. "And it is not just single women who are cash poor but pretty." LeConey says that even men are anxious to get rid of fine lines. "It is too depressing to stay home and mope over my fiscal situation," says Mike, a divorced 40-year-old from Houston. Instead Mike is focusing on his facial situation. The recently plumped and injected schoolteacher explains, "It takes confidence to meet women and be happy." Mike believes that doing what it takes to look younger will give him the confidence he needs to date again. "Confidence is more important than money right now," he says. In Mike's mind, money can't buy love, but it can buy some confidence, one syringe at a time. Last to enter the soup line of fine lines are the married folks. They might already have found their match, but now have "met their match" in the Botox boxing ring. Mary, a 46-year-old accountant and patient at the Institute of Anti-Aging, has been getting Botox and Restylane for the past five years. Because the couple was a little stressed by the economy, Mary's husband recently asked her to give up her youth, one shot at a time. Instead of throwing in the towel and giving up her fountain-of-youth syringe, Mary put her accounting skills to use. She added up her husband's golf receipts and told him: "I will give up Botox the day you give up golf." Mary's Botox handicap was par for the course. Her husband is now budgeting his golfing. Meantime, Mary budgets her Botox. For many, 2008 proved quite a fiscal feat for crow's feet and laugh lines. The plastic surgeon's Pied Piper effect on slowing the hands of time has created a long line of fine-line lemmings. However, whether you're single and looking to couple or a couple looking to cope through these economic doldrums, 2009 may be a good year to pick economy over vanity. Because, even in the best lighting, no one looks good asking: "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the brokest one of all?"

The Institute of Anti-Aging Gives Us Solutions to Stress-free Living 11:33 AM CST on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 The Institute of Anti-Aging 713-807-1000 www.antiageinstitute.com How does stress affect your body - Hypothalamus is the emotion center of your brain center of the fight or flight reflex which is where anxiety and depression reside. 1) Increased adrenaline: feel nervious, crave carbs, 2) Increased cortisol: gain abdominal weight, diabetes, hungry 3) Increased oxytocin: hungry, gain weight 4) Non cyclic vasopressin: poor sleep cycle: tired, fatigued, cranky 5) Decreased gonadotropins: low, irregular sex hormones: low libido 6) Decreased thyrotropin: low thyroid hormone: tired, weight gain, 7) Increased insulin: weight gain, diabetes, poor circulation 8) Impaired free radical quenching: rapid skin, and general aging How Stress Affects Beauty/Aging The same hypothalamic hormonal response to stress and depression too, have profound effects on the skin, specifically: 1) Increased adrenaline: 2) Increased cortisol: increased facial fat, puffiness, thin skin with poor collagen 3) Increased oxytocin: obesity, fluid retention, puffiness 4) Non cyclic vasopressin: fluid retention, fatigued look and feel 5) Decreased gonadotropins: dry, thin skin with poor oil content 6) Decreased thyrotropin: thin, dry skin, hair and nails 7) Increased insulin: diabetic skin: lumpy fat distribution, rapid aging 8) Impaired free radical quenching: thin skin similar to "smokers skin" Stress's Affect on Weight Gain 1) Increased adrenaline: feel nervious, crave carbs, 2) Increased cortisol: gain abdominal weight, diabetes, hungry 3) Increased oxytocin: hungry, gain weight 4) Decreased thyrotropin: low thyroid hormone: tired, weight gain, 5) Increased insulin: weight gain, diabetes, poor circulation Stress's Affect on Hormones 1) Increased cortisol: gain abdominal weight, diabetes, hungry 2) Decreased gonadotropins: low, irregular sex hormones: low libido 3) Decreased thyrotropin: low thyroid hormone: tired, weight gain,