Reduce Wrinkles Without Surgery

More than 6.5 million Americans had a cosmetic procedure last year. The majority of those people chose a non-surgical procedure like chemical face peels or laser hair removal. Botox was the most popular procedure by far, with more than 1 million customers -- mostly women -- lining up for the injections. Here are some other ways to turn back time without surgery.

When you look in the mirror, what do you see? Olivia Luft says, “I, like probably a lot of ladies, see the wrinkles more than anything.” “I’ve always wanted to have beautiful skin,” says Mindy Wolfson. Mary Jane Mason says, “I’m not vain. I just want to feel good about me.”

Millions of women spend billions of dollars trying to stop the hands of time. Skin-care specialists say anti-aging creams and moisturizers, not make-up, should be your first line of defense.

Skin care specialist Debra Kerr says, “You can’t conceal a wrinkle. That will only kind of fill it in like a putty or something.”

Dermatologist Michelle Chambers, M.D., says you don’t have to spend a lot of money to see results. “You could probably find things at the drug store that work just as well as the hundred-dollar creams,” she tells Ivanhoe.

For those willing to spend the money, there are more aggressive options. Dermatologist Leslie Baumann, M.D., of the University of Miami Cosmetic Center in Florida, performs a procedure called coblation. It uses radio waves to remove the top layer of skin. She says, “The radio waves move through saline, cause electrons in the saline to vibrate, and that causes the cells in the skin to vibrate and separate from each other.” The machine stimulates your own cells to make new collagen -- which helps smooth out wrinkles.

Dr. Baumann says coblation is better than plastic surgery because it’s less painful, the recovery time is shorter, and it’s cheaper.

Wolfson says, “So this was easy. It was, there was no suffering involved. There was no blood and gore.” Something so simple made a world of difference for her.

This past May, the FDA-approved Thermage, another procedure that uses radio waves to erase wrinkles. Treatments typically cost between $1,800 and several thousand dollars, and results will usually last about 18 months. If you are not interested in such an extreme makeover, Kerr says vitamin supplements and vitamin creams can help your own skin produce more collagen and reduce fine lines.

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/.