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American Morning
What's on the Horizon for the War on Wrinkles?
Aired April 22, 2002 - 09:50 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: For some Americans nothing is more important than looking great and that means looking young, and as baby boomers age that means wrestling with wrinkles, oh yes. According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, 8.5 million surgical and non-surgical cosmetic procedures were performed in the year 2001. That is an increase of 304 percent since just 1997.
And last Monday, the FDA finally approved the use of Botox as a non-invasive procedure to reduce the appearance of wrinkles. It was approved before for different matters, for headaches for example, but Botox is an already very popular injectable form of botulism toxin.
There is a newer therapy on the horizon to combat those pesky signs of age, and unlike Botox, restalyne is not a deadly toxin. And dermatologist Dr. Doris Day is here to tell us about this exciting new treatment -- welcome.
DR. DORIS DAY, DERMATOLOGIST: Thank you.
ZAHN: No at all related to the actress and singer Doris Day?
DAY: Not at all.
ZAHN: All right. You have just completed the clinical trial of this new -- what do we want to call it, chemical, new some sort of drug substance?
DAY: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) filler. We call it -- it's a soft tissue filler.
ZAHN: And we're going to look at some before and after pictures just to show what you think is the effectiveness. We're going to start with some eyes now, and describe to us what we should be looking for here.
DAY: OK, this woman had wrinkles between the eyes, which we are currently treating very effectively with Botox, however, after a certain point the wrinkles between the eyes can remain even after Botox treatments. And so with the lines that are remaining, the wrinkles remaining, you can inject restalyne to fill the remaining wrinkle.
ZAHN: And let's move on to the lips to see how you use that. Oh boy, you could see a big difference here. DAY: Right. Botox can be a little bit difficult around the lips because the lines around the lips are created from smiling and muscles, a facial expression that are important, so you really have to be careful there. With restalyne, you can inject restalyne into the lines around the lips and within the lips for lip augmentation. And it lasts must longer than the traditional fillers that are...
ZAHN: Now lip augmentation is the same thing as making your lips puffier?
DAY: But it can be done, as you see here, very carefully, very gently and artistically so that you have your own natural lips back with age. And with time and sun exposure, you lose substance from the lips, and this way you can fill back what you've lost without appearing artificial.
And what restalyne does, it's a natural ingredient in your body. Everybody has restalyne, and it's job is to hold water. And so now what you're doing is over time you lose that, you don't make it back as well and with time you can look more wrinkled and dry and like this picture you see here.
ZAHN: All right.
DAY: So...
ZAHN: And we're going to move onto another set of pictures now. And once again, we should say the FDA is in the process of looking at this. You could be years away from this being approve, right?
DAY: Right. In this study -- it should be a year or two away from being approved.
ZAHN: Wow!
DAY: And in this study what we did was we treated the nasal ladle (ph) folds, which is what you see here, half the side we did with collagen and -- which is out and FDA approved now, and the other side we did with restalyne. This woman had restalyne on both sides. But that's how we did it for this study.
ZAHN: Boy, those folds are gone.
DAY: And what restalyne does is it's a filler that absorbs water from the surrounding tissue, makes the skin look more natural, softer. This does not look artificial. She had some in her lips as well. You can see her lips are looking natural. You wouldn't say they're artificial or overly plumped up.
ZAHN: And same idea, it's an injection?
DAY: It's an injection.
ZAHN: At the site?
DAY: At the site, and you see an immediate response. With Botox you have to wait two to seven days to begin to see the response. With restalyne you have two benefits. One is you have an immediate response and two is you have response over time where as it absorbs water from the surrounding tissue helps to plump up the skin.
ZAHN: Will this be as expensive as Botox when it -- if and when it's finally approved by the FDA?
DAY: It's about -- it will probably end up being at about the same price range as Botox. It's a completely different mechanism of action, it's a different substance. So Botox while it acts on the nerve endings to freeze the muscles, this actually adds back substance into the skin. So they can be really effective together.
ZAHN: And how long does it last?
DAY: It can last four to six months and sometimes even longer. And it's there until it's not there. So it's not as if you know every three months you have to go in and get it again.
You get to a point there's really three aspects of what I call this rejuvenation technique. This is a very exciting part and it's what's coming down the horizon and people should look forward to it because it's not plastic surgery. People will just think you look better but they won't know exactly why you look better which is the nicest way to look better than people saying, Oh, you've had a facelift but it looks good, you know.
But you want to start with prevention. Make sure that your skin is healthy, that you're eating right, that you're exercising, that you've had a full skin check by a dermatologist once a year. Then you move into the treatment phase where you can do these treatments and have the Botox and the collagen done by a qualified dermatologist cosmetic surgeon so that you can have a very natural look. Botox...
ZAHN: If you can afford it. I mean we're talking pretty...
DAY: That's true, there is a cost factor.
ZAHN: ... -- very expensive procedures here.
DAY: That's true. When you get into the cosmetic realm there is a cost factor. You have to budget yourself, prioritize as to what bothers you the most and do it over time. But again,...
ZAHN: So you can't be bummed out by the whole picture? You...
DAY: No, you can't be bummed out. You have to always look at your best feature.
ZAHN: So can I ask you to be really honest here?
DAY: Sure.
ZAHN: Is there anything in your face right now?
DAY: Oh of course. ZAHN: Like what, because you still...
DAY: Well I do Botox.
ZAHN: I mean it's interesting because your face is moving. I mean we've had people on before who have had it in their foreheads and they have no expression in their eyes at all.
DAY: Right. Well you know my philosophy is that I don't believe in aging gracefully. I think you have to fight it every step of the way.
ZAHN: So what do you have in there?
DAY: Well I haven't done the collagen or restalyne. Restalyne's not FDA approved so we really can't do that now.
ZAHN: Right.
DAY: But I...
ZAHN: Get a little Botox in the forehead?
DAY: Botox on the sides of the eyes because these lines are not acceptable to me. These ones I won't allow.
ZAHN: They're gone.
DAY: They're gone.
ZAHN: How about right here?
DAY: I won't do Botox around the mouth for me because I need to feel comfortable about my smile is my own smile.
ZAHN: For real.
DAY: Is -- right. So that we have to be careful. But -- so I've worked on the upper half of the face and the rest is really just sun protection. But also Botox is really excellent for underneath the eyes to make them smoother.
ZAHN: Well you look very natural.
DAY: Thank you.
ZAHN: Good poster child for that stuff.
DAY: Thank you.
ZAHN: Dr. Doris Day, thank you for coming in and letting us know what's coming up down the horizon...
DAY: My pleasure.
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