The Prevention versus Correction Dilemma: How Young is too Young?

I am lucky that my mother gets to be a mentor/skin care guru/ world famous physician all wrapped in one package (for those who do not know, Dr. Sharyn “First Lady of Lasers” is my mom- I’m very lucky and proud!).  ‘Mommisms’ are therefore also ‘doctorisms’ and I don’t just take them with a grain of salt- I actually follow them to the tee.   So when she says, “it is all maintenance after 40”, I don’t question it.  I do not think any woman who is 40+ would argue either. 

It gets a little fuzzy, however, when you consider what you should do before the age of 40.  We are all in agreement that toddlers in tiaras should refrain from getting Botox but how about a 25 year old?  That’s when it gets interesting.  I’m 28 and I just got my first Botox tx for frowning this year.  I didn’t really think twice about it and I’m fairly honest about it if asked.  I also know that some may disapprove (they may or may not be able to frown while doing it).  There is an emotional element to the debate but for this blog we are going to examine some of the practical considerations. 

First off, I thought I would attempt to calculate an ROI of prevention versus correction.In 2006, a physician did a study comparing two identical twins to see whether Botox had a preventative effect on wrinkles. It did, as you can see in the pictures below. 

 It’s a good case study since the twin on the right had had Botox for 13 years prior, starting in her mid-twenties, and the twin on the left did basically nothing.  So we have two twins at the 40-year-old milestone and we can fairly assess the costs and the benefits of preventative versus corrective measures.  I then presented the pictures of each twin separately to nurses who give cosmetic consults and asked them to set out a possible treatment plan with associated costs. 

Treatment plan for the Correction Twin (Twin on the Left):

1st. Good skin care: every morning use zinc oxide sunscreen, Every Morning Sun Whip $38, evening to alternate retinoic acid, Differin 0.1% (by prescription) with antioxidant night cream, Cyberderm PM  Anti-Age $115

 2^nd. Botox: to open eyes and lift eyebrows 37 units @ $12/unit

 3^rd. Photofacials 1-3 treatments done 1 month apart $350/tx to even out skin tones- red and browns.

Total associated cost with Correction: $1657 for this series of treatments

Treatment plan for the Prevention Twin (Twin on the Right):

1^st. Good skin care: use Every Morning Sun Whip $38, evening to alternate Differin 0.1% (by prescription) with Cyberderm PM Anti-Age $115

2. Continued use of Botox at roughly 37 units @ $12/unit

Total cost of Prevention: $607 for this series of treatment

Of course, you then have to add the cost of 13 years of Botox treatments to the Prevention Twin’s total costs to give an accurate assessment.  When calculated at roughly $444 for every 3-4 months for 13 years, you get an additional cost of a number that is too terrifying to actual put in print.  Really, I deleted the actual number after having written it since some numbers are better in abstraction- like your shoe budget. 

Needless to say, the cost analysis wins out in the favour of correction.  My mom also assured me that with the state of technology in dermatology you can correct most issues to the same baseline as prevention.  In other words, the Correction twin could look as good as her Prevention sister after about a year of jabs, zaps and yikes’.  Again, correction seems to be winning.

However, just to sway the argument in favour of prevention a little, there are some additional factors to consider.  One is the pain factor.  For however much beauty you need to regain, you can increase the pain factor as well as the amount of downtime involved.  It’s the equivalent of going to the gym regularly over a lifetime versus having to go on the Biggest Loser and having Jillian Michaels yell in your face.  There is also the psychological boon of not being defined by your facial lines- imagine the difference in your quality of life if for 13 years you did not have people asking you whether you’re tired or sick or worried (when you actually had 10 hours sleep the night before and you are having a great day).  Some feel as though their wrinkles were hard earned.  Other’s feel as though they want to tell a different life story and do not want their wrinkles to do the talking.  It is a personal choice. 

So to end, I thought I would pass on some mommism’s that are applicable to everyone no matter how you feel about the prevention/correction debate: