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All I Want for Christmas Is a Shot of Paralyzing Toxins to the Forehead

By Leslie Goldman, Huffington Post. Posted December 18, 2007.


Giving the gift of cosmetic change is now hotter than ever this holiday season!
Advertisement

Want to give the breast holiday present ever?

How about the gift that keeps on giving: Plastic surgery!

We've all heard about high schoolers begging for -- and getting -- nose jobs for graduation or sugar daddies funding their girlfriends' lunchtime lipo, but now, just in time for Christmas, you can give the one you love a BOTOX® Cosmetic (Botulinum Toxin Type A) gift card. Just wait until you see the (lack of) expression on her face when she unwraps what she thinks is a $50 Bed, Bath & Beyond gift certificate but is actually the pathway to three-to-six months of eternal youth.

"Dear Journalist," the press release addressed to me read, "For your Holiday Gift Guide, please consider a story about taking the stress out of finding the perfect holiday gift! A recent international survey found that 52% of women 'of a certain age' would like to receive cosmetic injectables as a gift, which begs the question ... how do you wrap it?"

(This email came to me in response to a request I put out for "fitness-related gift guide ideas for young women, from soy candles to the hottest running shoes." So the fact that a PR agent translated my query into a plastic surgery inquest just tickles me. But I'm glad he did because now, I know what to get my notoriously hard-to-buy-for best friend with totally unsightly crow's feet.)

To the rescue are doctors' offices now selling gift cards for physician-administered aesthetic treatments, including BOTOX® Cosmetic, JUVÉDERM™ dermal fillers, laser treatments and facials. The cost pretty much rules it out as a Secret Santa gift, but here's a quick breakdown of the price: The average BOTOX treatment for vertical frown lines (those little monsters that furrow in deep between your eyebrows) is $300 to $500. The effects of the treatment can last up to four months. So for just $3-$5 per day, you're giving the gift of baby-smooth skin ... for cheaper than a daily Peppermint White Mocha Latte from Starbucks.

If BOTOX is so last year for your group of friends, why not try JUVÉDERM, a type of hyaluronic acid dermal filler? As my (now favorite) press release cheerfully chirps, "...the gift of JUVÉDERM™ will keep on giving because it's the only HA dermal filler currently FDA approved to last up to one year! Much better than a fruitcake!" I love whoever wrote this.

If it's you who is interested in a little December nip/tuck but all this holiday shopping has you maxing out your credit cards, GE has an interesting option for you: Put your next cosmetic surgical procedure on their CareCredit card. CareCredit is meant to be used specifically for health and beauty needs (teeth whitening, lipo, LASIK) and is exclusively endorsed by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery. Low minimum monthly payment options, no up-front costs, no prepayment penalties and no annual fees mean you can get to the laser hair removal center faster than ever before. Zip, zap, swipe.


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GE?
Posted by: blitzmesser on Dec 18, 2007 8:34 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
"GE has an interesting option for you: Put your next cosmetic surgical procedure on their CareCredit card. "
Is GE = GENERAL ELECTRIC?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: GE? Posted by: Jkid4x
» RE: GE? Posted by: chrysalis124812
TOXINS ??
Posted by: gellero on Dec 24, 2007 12:45 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Most medicines ( ie digitalis, atropine, etc ) are toxins. In the correct dose.

So what's the point of the title??

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» Incorrect... Posted by: mjabele
» I am Correct, you are Wrong Posted by: gellero
» RE: Incorrect... Posted by: heid
» RE: TOXINS ?? Posted by: mrsquirrel
botox
Posted by: bitsfick on Dec 24, 2007 7:17 AM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
it is an unfortunate fact of life but men age and woman get old. I don't make the rules so don't get mad at me.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: botox Posted by: data23
» RE: botox Posted by: bitsfick
» RE: botox Posted by: data23
» RE: botox Posted by: bitsfick
» RE: botox Posted by: data23
» RE: botox Posted by: bitsfick
» right on, data 23!! Posted by: Moira61
Commditization of Human Flesh is Immoral
Posted by: drricklippin on Dec 24, 2007 8:00 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This story illustrates how low we have sunk in our culture in part enabled by organized medicine.

This is a slippery slope toward the sale of other surgical procedures and even the sale of organs.

Human flesh and human souls should not be for sale-period.My former profession of medicine - now a business- needs to find its ethical and moral roots before it is too late.

Dr. Rick Lippin
Southampton,Pa
http://medicalcrises.blogspot.com

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Which is more laughable: Duh War on Christmas, or Duh War on...
Posted by: ABetterFuture on Dec 24, 2007 8:40 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
...Elective Surgeries.

Lessons from the pro-choice movement: The medical procedures that a woman (or man, silly) chooses to have on her body are none of your business. That's up to and including shooting herself up with pharmaceutical grade anaerobically-induced bacterial offal.

No, seriously: it doesn't matter how morally repugnant and stupid you find a particular medical procedure. In a free and liberal society, people have the right to do morally repugnant and stupid things, as long as they aren't hurting other people.

Fundamentalists. Sheesh.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» Saying it's wrong... Posted by: Bbear41
Dear Journalist
Posted by: Cruella on Dec 24, 2007 9:11 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
On behalf of real actual women at Christmas, I'd like to ask you to consider writing a story covering one of the two key issues:

1) How dangerous plastic surgery can be.

2) How women of all different shapes and sizes are all beautiful in their own way, regardless of what the media and beauty industry think.

I think what every woman would really like for Christmas is not to risk death by plastic surgery and not to have their self-esteem eroded by a load of advertising executives trying to flog them anti-wrinkle cream and face-toxins!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» BEAUTY Posted by: gellero
» RE: BEAUTY Posted by: morticia
Mixed Feelings
Posted by: Gravitas on Dec 24, 2007 9:12 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I have mixed feelings about cosmetic surgery. YES, we obsess way too much on appearance! There is a complete lack of balance. On the other hand, if I could afford a bit of it I would do it myself. Why? Because I spent a too much of my youth playing the socially conventional fat girl role. You know, having to apologize to society for being fat; yet, also apologizing to other women in that unspoken way that women do for being pretty if I were not fat! It was an unfair double bind! I can admit that publically now that I am almost 50 in a way I never could at 30. Cause it is all over anyway! Sadly, I have so much confidence in myself today. Geeze what I could do with myself if I just had even my 35 year old face back. My wrinkles outrage me, because all I see is missed opportunity. I wish I did find a chin tuck or a few line diminishing fat injections in my stocking.

p.s. Yo-yo dieting increases wrinkles. Which makes me even more infuriated I ever bought into it.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

botox
Posted by: improperly_sedated on Dec 24, 2007 12:54 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
As disturbed as I am by the current popularity of cosmetic surgery, it doesn't come close to the twisted implications of botox. Most people seem to think that "personality lines" is just a euphemism for the visible signs of aging, but this is not the case. As we get older, our respective characters get etched into our faces, ultimately becoming a personal introduction that saves a lot of small talk. This is what botox addresses, not the appearance of age.

"Doctor, doctor, ever since I turned 35, people can tell I'm an asshole the second I walk into the room! Can you fix my face so I can keep tricking them into thinking I'm a decent human being like I did when I was young?" That is what botox is for.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: botox Posted by: NoKidding
» RE: botox Posted by: Geolager
» RE: botox Posted by: improperly_sedated
» I'd do it! Posted by: sunspot
Not happening..
Posted by: messedup on Dec 24, 2007 4:49 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Everyone will keep doing what the media/journalists and the commercials tell them to do. They feed your ego, brain, insecurities, etc.

This article is basically an advertisement for botox and plastic surgery.

It's a good distraction for the masses.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

No Alternative in the West But to Hide Getting Old and Ugly as Long as Possible
Posted by: sofla100 on Dec 24, 2007 7:50 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Old age, sickness and death are part and parcel of the human condition and will continue to be so indefinetly. Included in this package is getting old and looking ugly.

Some people choose the cosmetic route to avoid the appearance of getting old and looking ugly. In other societies, getting old and looking ugly is not such a big deal, because the society has the religious, philosophical and cultural base to deal with these things. You find this more in the East than the West. Although, at this point of time even in the traditional societies of the East, such as those in Thailand, Burma and what was once Tibet, the old ways of accepting life as it is are disappearing.

Finally, we are left with what America is today. A society that simply has no way to deal with people as they get old and look ugly. Therefore, is it any surprise people will delay the inevitable as long as possible? I cannot say I blame them, as no road maps exist in American society out of this eternal dilemna.

In the end, American society has failed us all, along with her corallary beliefs in commercialism and the endless pursuit of money. Our vaunted science has also failed us, it tells us God is dead but it gives us no alternatives. So, what are people to do? Get old and ugly and be tossed aside, or try to hang on as long as possible?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Course or blessing
Posted by: coñoloco on Dec 25, 2007 5:19 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
In my wildest ever cross my mind that beeing a non handsome person could be a blessing.
True,there were frustration others got the better chicks.Now at sixty,when I see the angst
of those that good looks gave the edge,do fill vindicated,I have nothing to lose,because there
were none,I realize we the ugly aged more
a peace.

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Botox not just a vanity treatment
Posted by: alby on Dec 25, 2007 8:29 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Hey, did you know that Botox was also a successful treatment for Migraine headaches?

Botox for Migraines


And guess what? As a migraine treatment, Botox is not currently covered under most insurance. Can you think of any other reason besides face-plumping that someone might appreciate a gift card for Botox treatment?

Regardless of how ill-informed the author is, the weird crap people do to their own bodies is none of my business. Usually there's a reasonable rationale, no matter how odd someone else's choice may seem. The point is, it's someone else's choice. Maybe we should be more focused on preserving freedoms than complaining about the 2% of the population that got a strange gift card this year.

Happy holidays, and may all our headaches be relieved.

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» Amen to that! Posted by: sunspot
» RE: Amen to that! Posted by: morticia
Therapeutic
Posted by: gellero on Dec 25, 2007 1:11 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
FYI Botox was developed as a therapeutic agent for Blepharospasm, Hemifacial spasm, torticolis, and other neuromuscular disorders.

"Big Pharma', you know, the dedicated people who provide the drugs we need to survive, and so often derided in these pages by the fools and know-nothings who often post here, has been a godsend for these people, who would never have had treatment, and who would still be suffering, if not for Botox.

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