Is cosmetic surgery ever necessary? No, I doubt it. I think in the event of massive weight loss one might need repair of sagging skin, but this is not cosmetic.
For most of us there are exercises and devices.
Do I feel all this is vanity? No, not at all. Do people style their hair? Why don't they just let it grow in a matted mess? Do we dislike wearing damaged clothing? Isn't most of it still functional? We have come to accept exercise as a good idea, and it's not all about health. And there is no end to those cracking a whip to convince women to get skinnier and skinnier. Usually in the guise of better health. Really? Lots of people have lived to be very old and very active without exercise and quite a few extra pounds. The point being that people want to be attractive and a lot of the noise about doing things for one's health is about being more attractive. On bad hair days, which I am acquainted with, the difference in one's social standing plummets. Therefore, social pressure is applied to coerce people, especially of the feminine persuasion, to do something! I would say, "Take the shortest route."
I had not paid much attention to beauty devices or lotions and creams. They seemed like a waste of money. I did buy a Dermal Tone once, and used it for a few weeks. I thought there was some difference. Enough to convince me to spend the time it took to use it? I'm not sure.
That was then. This is now. Yes, some of these devices take some time to use, but eventually, after a few months, you reach a level where you can go to about a third the effort to maintain.
Look around. Things can happen to you if you slip up too much in the beauty department.
Therefore, a few months ago I decided that I would find out what virtue there was to the magic of the beauty treatments. Wow, it was an eyeopener. I've had fun with it, and surprising results. You see, the ladies of the world will leave no stone unturned to find a solution to wrinkles, graying, age spots, sagging, and such.
It all started long ago, I'd say about ten years. I saw on my hands some spots, dark spots. Age spots?? Impossible. I finally was unhinged enough to buy some hydroquinine cream (?) (I think that's it), aka vanishing cream, to bleach out the spots. Too, my hands seemed to be dry, maybe even wrinkled. "Well, that's just dishpan hands," I thought. A doctor even pointed it out, as if he had any idea what to do about it. "Your hands look dry..." What to do? Moisturizer! Well, that's all very well and good for an hour or so. Then they're back.
The vanishing cream and the moisturizer did no good whatsoever.
Too, I decided to get buff for a while. So I bought a belt thingy that has electrical stimulation of the abdomen. I saw it on TV, about $100. Bring your wallet. I loved this belt and wore it all the time until I broke it to bits and didn't know where to reorder. In fact, the FDA may have even taken it off the market for a while, just like they did the Dermal Tone.
My Dermal Tone days ended one day when the FDA put them out of business for false claims and my device broke, just like my abdominal belt.
So there was a long period of time that I was disillusioned. So many problems. Things didn't work or they broke. If they worked, they took time and money to do.
So what to do? Laser? Surgery? The medical world has all sorts of procedures that are as pricey as can be and very iffy. Have you seen some of the tragic photos of people, some of whom made their living on their appearance, maimed by plastic surgery? Are these isolated event? No no no. It's pretty much a crap shoot. Is that a good idea?
The attitude that people have toward those who have been maimed by plastic surgery is extremely cruel, too. I really don't know why. In fact, the attitude toward those who have plastic surgery at all is cruel. Or reconstructive surgery. Something like, "Those vain people should have spent that money on the children..." Or that, for the surgery, that person would be an ugho. And that's the reason they're an ugho. They're too righteous to throw money away on frivolous things like that!
Or they're confident enough of their own little social network to keep them from abandonment in the world.
The first thing one must know in the quest to resolve any beauty problem is that it is going to take effort. Possibly even some pain. One must find some avenue they're really convinced about, or they will quit. And they might quit anyway when they see the effort involved. They might just decide to live with the situation.
Well, personally, I find joy in turning things around. When I see improvement in wrinkles or spots it encourages me. Does it matter if I'm not 18 anymore?
The discoveries I made mostly were things I stumbled on. The first one was called derma rolling. What is derma rolling? Yes, that's what I wondered. Derma rolling is using a wand with a small wheel on it that is covered with tiny needles. One takes the wheel and rolls it on places that have been vexing, like the face, neck, hands... Soon one is probably seriously bleeding. That doesn't last long, but it is a problem for a lot of people. Not so much for me. The bleeding stops soon, and I rinse it off. Then my face is red for a day or so. And sometimes, usually I'd say, a layer of skin darkens and eventually peels off. How much does this cost? The derma roller is usually $25 to $50. Not so much. Then there's an industry of "vitamin C and hyaluronic acid" people selling serums, and those are also about $25, but not really a must. I use them though. And lidocaine cream for pain. Did I say pain? Yes. Like hitting yourself with a hairbrush. You've been bad!! I don't use that most of the time. I just haven't bothered. The pain isn't that severe to me.
What in the world? Why would I put little needle marks all over my face and hands? I wish you could have seen my mother's reaction when she found out what I was up to. No holds barred effort to stop the madness. To no avail. It was a little frightening the first time.
I did it because the ultimate effect is as good or better than fractional laser and there are no doctors or therapists to really mess you up and charge you thousands and thousands of dollars. Nor did I have to go to appointments. Underneath the skin of anyone, no matter what age, is brand new skin, just as rosy and pink as the day they were born. The tiny needles go under the outer layer of skin and stimulate collagen production in the deeper layers. The collagen production takes time since this is like being at the snail races. The total effect isn't seen for about nine months. Well, I'd like to have better skin in nine months. It's not a one time thing though. I've seen a lot of silliness about every aspect of this practices. One woman did a derma roll on her skin every morning. Not to the point of bleeding. A) That's too much. B) That's not doing it properly. That isn't going below the skin. How is that going to stimulate collagen production? She thought she looked dewy and said others did too. Maybe, but they would say that if you used a buff puff. There are those, a lot of them medical doctors, who say that one should never ever use a needle more than a certain size, like more than .25 mms. Far too dangerous. Right! Or you could scar yourself. Well, all I know is, it isn't dangerous. It's a good idea to use good hygiene. I use about 1.0 mm, and no infections or scars. This is not a deep wound. It's about as dangerous as getting scratched up in a briar patch. Then there's the big debate about how often to do this. If you go to a clinic they will insist that this not be done more than, oh, every couple of months. The doctors will get online and say that after all, collagen can't grow overnight, and doing this more often will be counter productive. But doing it every few months is counter productive that you never get anywhere. I tried to do it about once a week, but have a hard time with that. Whenever I feel like it.
I've seen truly gratifying results with this. For example, my nose has become a nice pink nose instead of a kind of blotchy sun damaged nose. I never even knew it was sun damaged until a few months went by of derma rolling and the blotchiness cleared up. It also has reduced scars, like from acne, and made my pores smaller. What about "the 11s"? In case you don't know, that the frown lines that I noticed when I wasn't long out of school. What about lip lines? On the elevens I actually took a sewing needle because the area was hard to get at with the derma roller. I had seen someone else do this on youtube with good results. I had good results too. She made little needle marks up and down the elevens about twice a week and in two months they were gone. This is another reason I don't think it makes sense to limit yourself to once every few months. When you use either system, you don't treat every bit of skin. So if you do it once or twice a week, it's not as if you're reinjuring the same exact needle mark.
I've had good results with derma rolling and was extremely happy to have found out about it. It's hard to say exactly what happened, but it certainly did more than any cream or lotion. There are before and after videos on youtube. I guess I should do before and after on myself in the future.
Someone told me about a year ago, "I'm not happy with my forearms. The skin on them seems to be weathered." The problem is, what to do? They didn't have weathered arms, but I had thought the same things about my arms. I derma rolled them, and they look like they are nice and un sun damaged. Derma rolling is also effective against cellulite.
So that's part of the story of my journey into beauty treatment land.
Stay tuned.
