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 MIAMI, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Business is booming for those who help people achieve the perfect look. There has been a 450-percent increase in the number of cosmetic procedures performed over the past ten years. About 12 million procedures were performed last year alone. One reason becoming beautiful doesnt necessarily mean major surgery.
Who is beautiful? For those who believe beauty is in the eye of the beholder, think again. There may be a formula for finding the fairest of them all.
It's a growing theory -- the definition of beauty isn't a product of Hollywood. It's programmed in our DNA. Studies show faces considered beautiful are highly symmetrical. The most famous example Leonardo da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man," the ideal of human proportions; but what if you don't measure up?
"It's just something that's always bothered me, that my face isn't perfect symmetry, so I'm going to lift this here like this so they are the same," Teddy Gunter told Ivanhoe. Gunter is on a quest for perfection.
"I have a laundry list," she said. "Oh, I can't wait I'm so excited. I'm going to have my teeth completely re done cause I want that Hollywood smile. I'm going to have my boobs done too. Your knees start to sag and look like you're an old lady so I'm going to get that done." Now Gunter can cross off some of that to-do list without going under the knife.
"Now you can do it and go back to work, afterward," she exclaimed. "It's great."
Heather Woolery-Lloyd, M.D., a dermatologist at the University of Miami Cosmetic Medicine and Research Institute, is using the titan laser to firm up some of Gunter's loose skin.
"It heats up the deep layer of our skin which is the dermis that contains collagen and when you heat up the dermis it kind of tricks the dermis into thinking that it was injured so that you produce new collagen and the result is skin tightening," Dr. Woolery-Lloyd explained to Ivanhoe.
Gunter will need at least three Titan laser treatments for it to work, at a cost of $600 to $1,200 per session. It lasts about two to three years.
"No matter how old you are, you still feel like you are 17 inside and then you look in the mirror and you say, 'Oh my gosh. Who is that?" Merry Haber told Ivanhoe.
At 66, Haber is looking for her own fountain of youth that doesn't include major surgery.
"When I started looking, I started saying, 'I don't like these lines.' Gravity is catching up. I don't like the idea of being vain, but I am," Haber said.
Haber started with Botox, but then moved to an injection called Sculptra. It's made from absorbable stitches.
"We inject these tiny little pieces into the skin and it makes your body make collagen, and that gives your skin a younger look," Leslie Baumann, M.D., director of the University of Miami Cosmetic Medicine and Research Institute, explained to Ivanhoe.
The treatment was originally used to help fill out the faces of aids patients. Now, those in search of a younger glow are getting Sculptra injections once a month for about five months, at $200 per shot. It takes about three sessions for results to show and results last for about three years.
If you're still angry you're not among those who hit the genetic jackpot there are ways to make subtle adjustments without surgery. It all depends on how much you're willing to pay for perfection.
 "There is no price for you to like what you see when you look in the mirror," Gunter said.
Doctors say although Sculptra is used all the time to help aging skin, it is not FDA approved for that purpose. Patients say with the Titan laser there is some discomfort during the procedure and there is a small risk for developing blisters.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
University of Miami Cosmetic Medicine and Research Institute
Miami, FL
(305) 532-5552
http://www.derm.net
info@derm.net
To read Ivanhoe's full-length interview with Dr. Woolery-Lloyd, click here.
Sign up for a free weekly e-mail on Medical Breakthroughs called First to Know by clicking here.
If this story or any other Ivanhoe story has impacted your life or prompted you or someone you know to seek or change treatments, please let us know by contacting Lindsay Braun at lbraun@ivanhoe.com.
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
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