Tomorrow's "ideal face," as Shirley Lord reports, will be the result of new inventions, fresh ideas, and a pervasive attitude that nothing need stand in the way of a more perfect you.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall ... Look in a mirror at cosmetic and reconstructive surgery opera- exact skin-tone match. (A similar gun is used a counter these days, and chances tions. "The blueprints of humans produced by on the West Coast at beauty clinics like are it will be attached to a computer capable electronic surgical imaging don't realistically About Faces, Sausalito, Califomia.) In places of manipulating your features, coloring, and portray what changes are and are not possi- where a medical problem has caused a loss to produce your idea (or the manu- ble," says Smith. "Whereas when I do overlays of pigment, Orentreich now tattoos real gold facturer's) of you at your "fairest. " Your image, with drawing paper on a patient's photo- into the skin, "because it can stimulate the a miracle of video and computer technology, graph, using this armory of ideal micromea- manufacture of natural pigment," he can be restyled and reshaped electronically surements as a guide, I am able to determine explains. "But I must stipulate that it takes as fast as buttons on the terminal are pushed. with a better degree of possibility if the time-it's not an overnight miracle." This is child's play compared to the actual patient is decient in the malar [cheekbone] reshaping going on in the operating room. area-or has too much bulk in the jaw. Perhaps The cosmetics industry was built on the There, computer images act as "windows" the slant of the eyebrows is o or the size of promise of miracles, and it's expected that through which plastic surgeons can clearly the nose. It's often such a subtle little thing." companies will invest hundreds of see and examine patients' tissues, muscles, thousands of dollars in computers to show and bone structures. From these electronic To the suggestion that their ongoing pursuit consumers not only the changes that can be images are developed blueprints of the of perfection for their patients is creating made with makeup and hair color, but with appropriate surgical procedure. This has unrealistic expectations, Antell and Smith skin-care products, too. Even today, Estée meant a tremendous advance in correcting have only contempt. "On the contrary," says Lauder's Personal Prole Printout and Skin abnormalities. However, the computer is also Smith, "now, more and more women of every Analyzer Machine, 's Replica Skin increasingly used in cosmetic surgery to age want to improve their appearance by Diagnosis System, Terme di Satumia's Skin show would-be patients how they're going to making what may be only the slightest Sensor, Lancóme's Video Beauty, and look after a facelift or an eye job. change, and more and more plastic surgeons Christian Dior's Double Exposure can show a are working with them to discover what can woman what her skin looks like and what it While interesting, these images can also be be done to change them from average to needs. Soon Prescriptives will have a small dangerously deluding. "Computers can't exceptional. You could say it's cosmetic machine at its counters capable of pressing predict soft-tissue changes," says coming of age." Norman Orentreich, every custom-blended powder product, for surgeon Darrick Antell, M.D., D. D. S., M.D., clinical professor, department of derma- every skin tone. can be attending sta in plastic surgery, St. tology, New York University School of custom-blended, too. Visage Beaute and Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital-Columbia Univer- Medicine, has been dealing for more than Charles of the Ritz provide makeup on a sity Medical School. "Bone changes, yes; soft twenty years with thousands of patients' one-on-one basis, and Key Identity, a small tissue, no. If I move the chin forward one dreams and aspirations for ideal looks. A company in New York City, has begun blend- centimeter, we know, within reason, you will pioneer in a number of revolutionary ing individual skin-care products. Other get one centimeter di erence. When it comes treatments, including hair transplants, companies believe there's no more personal to the nose, if someone makes an adjustment cryosurgery to correct dark under-eye circles, approach than do-it- yourself. This month on the computer to show a patient how her and Retin-A for premature aging, Orentreich Yves Saint Laurent introduces Principe Actif, 'new nose' is going to look, it can't and says today, "Although undoubtedly there are a twenty-one-day, two- to four-times-a-year doesn't account for how the skin is going to many sophisticated new tools and techniques treatment, which comes as a capsule and an drape in that area. The end result can be a available that produce fast visual improve- airy cream that you have to mix together. disappointment." ments, it is neurotic to become obsessive Princess Marcella Borghese's new Contro- about one's appearance just as it is a sign of tempo Antidote for the Eyes also needs your Dr. Antell is one of a growing number of neurosis to neglect it. There is a great deal we input: you have to mix a cream and a gel plastic surgeons who believe in improving on can do, but too much cosmetic surgery can together to achieve relief from dry lines. nature. A few years ago he applied for and look terrible. "Take the use of silicone received a research grant from the American injections into the skin for the elimination of For the future, there's optimism that Retin-A Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery to study ne lines or scars. We learned over the years will become the rst antiaging prescription what he calls "today's ideal standard of that the best results are achieved by injecting drug and that skin care will become much beauty." He and coinvestigator James W. only microdroplets at very well-spaced more important. As dermatologists already Smith, clinical associate professor of plastic intervals of time, say, every four to six months. stipulate, Retin-A must not be used without surgery at The New York Hospital-Cornell The silicone stimulates the skin to produce its a good every day and plenty of Medical Center, used top models from Ford own new tissue to 'll in' the wrinkle or inden- sun protection. The nineties will bring Models as subjects, measuring their tation, not the material that is injected. plenty. Coming soon: chemically treated proportions with calipers to compile a huge Nothing 'instant,' or even fast." fabrics with an SPF of 60; a personal sun vane dossier of micromeasurements. They were that warns you when it's time to hit the guided in part by Anthropometry of the Head Permanent cosmetic changes are also increas- shade; vending machines at the beach that and Face in Medicine, a reference book by L. ingly e ected by tattooing, not only for spray you with the right SPF at the touch of a G. Farkas, associate professor, department of eyeliner (for those allergic to eye makeup or button; towelettes soaked in sunscreen for surgery, University of Toronto, who has done with vision problems) but for reshaping lips, wipe-on protection. At least one hundred work comparing ancient Greek canons of eyebrows, or areolae surrounding the nipples. new sun-care are scheduled for facial proportion with today's average popu- At The Orentreich Medical Group, a special introduction next year alone. A wrinkle-free lation. Smith and Antell feel their ongoing sterilized "gun" is used that dispatches a era? It won't be for want of trying. study is contributing to the success of their mixture of inorganic pigments to achieve an

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