A New Wrinkle In Medicine

The silver is polished, the hors d'oeuvres are ready and the drinks are flowing. But the five guests are really meeting for the dose of poison that comes after the meal.

In a procedure being repeated in doctor's offices around the country, Boston plastic surgeon Ramsey Alsarraf is holding a Botox party. Botox, short for "Botulinum Toxin," is a new FDA-approved treatment for wrinkles. According to Dr. Alsarraff, Botox is mostly preventative, and temporarily freezes the deep smile or frown lines that form on the face and keeps them from getting etched in the skin.

Andy, a teacher, is the oldest of Alsarraf's guests at 46; Krystian, a writer, is, at 26, the youngest. Other guests are 31-year-old investment banker Jennifer; Jessica, 30, a personal trainer; and Cynthia, in sales and marketing, who is 33.

As Correspondent Erin Moriarity reports, they all confess to being part of a growing trend in this country - young people with an almost obsessive fear of growing old.

Cynthia sums up the feeling: "I'm not going to get old gracefully. I'm gonna fight it every step of the way!"

Like most patients, she first learned about Botox, not in a medical journal, but in a fashion magazine.

"There are new treatments all the time," says Linda Wells, editor-in-chief of Allure magazine, where more and more pages are being devoted to procedures and products that promise to slow the aging process without scalpels or sutures. "We really could fill the magazine every month with reports of new treatments.

"There are injections, which are becoming enormously popular," she says. "There are hot lasers; there are cool lasers. And so much of what is going on right now is coming from what seems like the weirdest science, almost parody."

Treatments cost anywhere from $300 to $1,000 each but none of the five seems to feel the sting to the wallet.

New York dermatologist Howard Sobel says his practice is booming with patients looking for procedures that require little or no recovery time.

"I think people want to do the little things that they can do to tweak themselves," he says. "Prevent, and then tweak."

Thirty-four-year-old Suzanne Murphy works in finance and spends up to $10,000 a year on improving her looks. She gets a Botox treatment every two weeks.

Recently, Sobel used a laser called a "V-beam" to eliminate broken capillaries around her nose.

Another patient gets a "cool-touch" laser treatment to stimulate the production of collagen, a key ingredient of youthful skin. The cost of three treatments is $2,000.

And while most people want to get rid of unwanted fat, 35-year-old Helen is having Sobel inject fat taken from her hip into lines on her face.

Another person visiting the office is Heather, age 26; she looks young but wants to stay that way.

One of the most intriguing new developments is a study of something called human growth factor gel, which is intended to reduce fine lines on aging skin. Researchers are doing a double blind study of the gel which was developed from cells from the foreskin of a baby boy.The gel is applied to one side of the face and a placebo is applied to the other so researchers can see whether there is perceptible improvement in the hundreds of women taking part in the study.

One woman who had been using the gel for three months correctly guessed which side had been getting it. But another, older patient, said she had seen the most improvement in the side of her face getting the placebo.

Botox results are more immediate and apparent, but even they are short-lived. Treatments need to be repeated in three to six months.

For those concerned about aging, there is really no way to stop the clock. All you can do is freeze it for a little while.