I feel younger already.

I wish I could say that I got Botoxed to cure headaches, excessive sweating or some other medical necessity but I didn't. I wish it were for research or investigative reporting but it wasn't. A shameless plot to increase our stock in Allergan? Afraid not.

Pure and simple vanity, curiosity and a good deal got the best of me.

And I love it.

I've been thinking about it off and on since Ben mentioned that I might want to try it about two years ago (this time frame most likely correlates with a rotation in plastic surgery, dermatology or ENT). The area of concern is the vertical crease between the eyebrows (corrugator muscle). Which for some reason - genetics, overworking the muscle (i.e.-one too many years of dirty looks directed at B.), sun-exposure (only in the last four years have I become a sunblock addict, which leaves a lot of years of outdoor sports and lifeguarding to account for), etc. has resulted in a fairly deep wrinkle that even when I try to smooth out, remains. It may be one of the reasons the bang thing was working for me. Furthermore, and what pushed me to the edge of actually researching it, when I wake up in the morning the line is deeper and I feel like I have been scrunching up my face for hours. I blame this on not having shades for our windows, causing light to stream in multiple sides of my room in the morning; I think I must be trying to block it out by scrunching. So maybe I should have invested in some shades instead, but when I get something in my mind I usually have to try it before I can be through with it.

Long chain of events shortened, I got half-off a treatment from a renowned plastic surgeon and the appointment was set. I briefly considered canceling it, but after being reminded that this was a preventative (as well as corrective) measure I went ahead with it.

Being in a plastic surgeons office is a strange thing, especially at my age. You want to size up the people in the waiting room and guess what they are having or have had done. For some it's obvious. I was hoping that anyone giving me the once over would be wondering what I could possibly be needing, or guessing that I had been skillfully attended to already. I was fairly confident that the doctor himself would question why I was there. I couldn't have been more wrong. If I thought that going into a nail salon for a manicure and being asked if I was there for an eyebrow wax was unflattering then I was about to be humiliated.

The doctor, who is in his 70's, comes in and without even introducing himself grabs a handheld mirror and holds it in front of my face while saying "I wish you would let me do a brow lift" (brows spontaneously go up at this point, perhaps in horror and fear of being displaced) and he proceeds to show me where my brows are headed and where they "should" be as well as indicating that he would simply remove the corrugator muscle entirely, resulting in a completely smooth forehead, no Botox required (I picture Nicole Kidman). He says it will instantly "youthinize" you (I am actually just guessing here that he meant it as a made-up word and not euthanize although I didn't verify this). So I say, "if you remove that muscle then how will my husband know when I'm mad at him" and he replies "well you don't want him to think you're mad at him when you're not". Touché.

He leaves the room to prepare for the procedure and leaves me with the mirror which I make a few faces in and then put down. Still stunned by the turn of events, I am resolved not to even think of such a thing. He even wanted to remove the mole beneath my left eye. Never! Suddenly Botox doesn't seem so extreme. I see an eye cream I am interested in trying out advertised in a magazine and start searching for a pen to make a note of it. I can only find surgical markers in a drawer but I use one anyway.

He returns and 5 minutes and 4 (I think) slightly painful injections later I am handed a purple ice pack and am good to go. I pick up the mirror one last time and am amazed at the transformation. I look 28 again!


Before

After