Can Your Skin Be Saved?

These therapies are safer than the deepest chemical peel and a huge improvement over an invasive procedure called dermabrasion, which involves sanding the skin's surface. Lasers are also far more precise than other treatments, because a doctor knows exactly how deep he's chiseling into a patient's skin with each pass of the instrument. But laser resurfacing still has some serious side effects. "Most patients are frightened the first day or two after having laser treatment," says Becker. A recovering face will ooze clear fluid for several days. Your doctor may tell you to apply dressings or ointment. Then an alarming redness sets in, fading about a week after an erbium treatment and two weeks after a carbon-laser session. Sun avoidance is critical for freshly lasered faces. The price for three to four years of rejuvenated skin: $2,000 to $4,000 if you use an erbium-light machine and $3,000 to $6,000 for carbon-laser beams.

Botox: When you hear that the popular botox treatment involves having the deadly botulinus toxin injected into your face, you have to wonder just how far you'll let your vanity take you. Fortunately, dermatologists don't give you enough of the stuff to cause botulism--just enough to temporarily paralyze the facial muscles that cause furrows when they contract. Whew--what a relief! People swear by botox as a remedy for those creases between eyebrows and across the forehead. The treatment, which consists of several tiny toxin injections, has to be repeated two or three times a year. But it's painless and very fast. "It can make a huge difference and allow patients to put off surgery for a few years," says Liftin. You can get similar effects by injecting bovine collagen. It's considerably cheaper than botox, but it lasts only two to three months. Some dermatologists use it on the lines that run from the sides of the nose to the corners of the mouth, and on the marionette lines that begin at the corners of the mouth and wander down toward the chin.

Does having your face squeezed, picked, burned, abraded and paralyzed strike you as extreme measures? There is an alternative to this ever-escalating schedule of high-maintenance, high-expense procedures. It's called letting nature take its course. It would mean looking old, of course. Really old, in fact, because so many of your friends will be peeling and lasering their way to artificial dewiness. You could be Georgia O'Keeffe amid a sea of Cameron Diazes and Nicole Kidmans. But skin envy dies hard. Now more than ever, aging gracefully means enduring your share of ungraceful procedures.

Five Ways to Fix a WrinkleIf you're not ready for surgery, a chemical or laser peel offers a halfway measure. Some options: