Scarlett Johansson poll, plus no-needle rival for Botox

News and info about celebrities is on the Celebrities and Cosmetic Medicine page. That includes a reader survey on Scarlett Johansson vs. US Weekly over its suggestion that she had plastic surgery.

Here’s the latest on my Web pages on cosmetic medicine:

• A potential rival to Botox wouldn’t need to be injected. Medicis pays $20 million to get into that game.
• Signs of a slowdown in breast implants because of economic weakness.
• LipDissolve centers shut down nationwide, except in Costa Mesa.
• New 5-year study of ArteFill long-lasting dermal filler.
• FDA approval of Fraxel re:pair laser treatments.
• Dangers of overstating how well lasers work as skin treatments.
• How improvements in cosmetic medicine have helped change people’s expectations of what they’ll look like as they age. (Bye-bye, Granny.)

Software can make your image lovely, or monstrous

Want to see a beautiful new you? Or perhaps see yourself turn into a monster?

Either of those is possible at a Web site developed by the Canadian branch of Irvine-based Allergan, which makes Botox and Juvederm wrinkle-fighting injections.

If you visit the Juvederm Revitalizer page of the www.juvederm.ca Web site, you can upload a photo of yourself, choose the areas of your face you’d like treated, and then see the results – for better or for worse.

For faces with some wrinkles, the software often works as intended. It can produce a new image with shallower wrinkles, higher eyebrows and slightly fuller lips. The samples above are typical results, showing how the site transformed my photo. (Above left is my photo from a few years ago. Above right is the same photo, transformed subtly to simulate cosmetic treatments, most notably the shallower folds between my nose and my mouth.)

Occasionally the software analyzes the photo incorrectly and produces a strange new look. (See below.) Or it can also be tricked into producing monstrous new faces, which is what happens if you repeatedly feed the Revitalizer’s “after” photos back into the program.

The Juvederm Revitalizer software is based on so-called Modiface technology created by Dr. Parham Aarabi, the head of the University of Toronto’s Artificial Perception Laboratory.

If you’d like to play around with this software, why no enter the “Make Yourself a Monster” contest on my Tech Playground page?

Simon Cowell relies on Botox, shuns plastic surgery and hair color

Botox, yes. Plastic surgery, no.

That’s a fairly common attitude. But “American Idol” judge Simon Cowell adds a different twist: Hair color, no way.

He says he uses Botox to fight back against wrinkles, hasn’t had plastic surgery and would never color his hair.

“Vain? Yeah, I am. But to be honest with you, I can’t think of one person who is on TV who isn’t vain,” he said in an interview with the Daily Mail. “It’s the nature of the beast. If you are on TV then you have a vanity, for sure. Just admit it! Why not?”

“Yes, I’ve had Botox, but not in an obsessive way,” he said. “I’ve never dyed my hair, ever and I wouldn’t.”

Cowell, who was born Oct. 7, 1959, is 48 years old.

See more about celebrities’ use of cosmetic medicine at the Celebrity Corner.

Women in 20s use Botox to freeze their youthful looks

Inspired by celebrities’ good looks, more people in their 20s are getting Botox and other treatments in an attempt to preserve their youthful appearance, according to a report from Sacramento television station KCRA.

“What they’re trying to do is prevent lines here from ever forming with the idea being if they never form, you never have to do anything to erase them,”said dermatologist Dr. Suzanne Kilmer.

One patient, Amy Kabakov, 27, commented, “We see all these celebrities looking great, we have these expectations to look up to, and at the same time it just makes you feel better,” said. “I think it makes you feel good when you look in the mirror and you’re happy with the way you look.”

The article said Kilmer tells patients that the best thing they can do to stop aging is to use sunscreen containing zinc oxide.

Botox parties, Oklahoma style

Botox parties are often criticized as an example of low-quality health care, but in Oklahoma they’re sponsored by doctors. And the Botox can come with a side order of Restylane. That’s the scene as described in the Oklahoma City Journal Record.

As usual, celebrities’ looks play a role in patients’ expectations. Says Dr. Gina Ressler:

“They’ll tell me ‘I want those lips!’ and I’ll say ‘You can’t have those lips, those aren’t your lips.’ You can have your lips enhanced but you can’t have someone else’s lips. Sometimes people come in with this misconception that they can just totally change their face into something else. But what we’re all about is enhancing someone’s natural beauty, what they have.”