About Face

Introducing the New Brilliant Distinctions Mall

If you get Botox, Juvederm, Latisse, or skin care products such as Vivite and SkinMedica, you should ask to be registered in the Brilliant Distinctions loyalty program. You earn points towards future savings each time you receive a qualifying treatment or product. 

Now, a good program just got better. You can earn points towards your next treatment just by shopping at your favorite retailer online! See below for more details.

 

You can select from hundreds of retailers online. Each retailer will tell you how many Brilliant Distinctions points you can earn based upon how much you spend with them. The graphic below shows just a small sample of the hundreds of top retailers involved in the program. Now, shopping online for everything you need, from clothing to home improvement to travel and leisure can literally earn you FREE money towards your next purchase of any Allergan product, including Botox, Juvederm, Latisse, and Vivite Skin Care. The more you shop, the more you earn!

The Chow Center for Facial Plastic Surgery participates in Brilliant Distinctions. Simply let us know you are a member when you join or sign up (for free!) during your visit. We can help you sign up, or you can simply click this link to sign up online. This is an offer too good to pass up!

Not All Botox is Created Equal

Almost everyone has a strong impression about the minimally invasive injectables and cosmetic procedures that are available today. Unfortunately, misconceptions about aesthetic procedures abound. Many people believe that almost all plastic surgery results in an “overdone” appearance, but the opposite is actually true. For example, over 2.6 million people received Botox last year in the United States alone, and 1.6 million received some type of facial filler.

Simple Skin Care How-To Guide

Taking the time to take care of your skin will really pay off as your get older.  Great skin equates to youthfulness and beauty.  As with many things, it is always best to prevent a problem before you have to fix it.  For example, it is much easier to try to prevent dark spots on your skin than it is to try to get rid of the ones that you already have.  So if you are taking the time to take care of your skin, you will find yourself with at least a handful of skin care products.  A question that I frequently get from patients is how and when should they apply their skin care products? 

Get Rid of Summer Skin Damage

Labor Day weekend is bittersweet, as it marks the end of summer and the beginning of the fall season.  Before you know it, you’ll have to start getting ready for the busy holiday season! So for now, we should all be taking advantage of the month or two we have to get ready to look fabulous just in time for the holidays.  The first step is to get rid of the summer damage that you may have inflicted on your skin!

The Dark Side of Tanning

If you haven’t already heard the steady stream of news about skin cancer these days, tanning is very damaging to your skin.  In fact, it causes wrinkles, lax skin, brown spots (known as hyperpigmentation), skin cancer, and more.  A nice tan might look great when you are in your twenties or thirties, but it causes irreversible damage and premature aging to your skin.  The last thing anyone wants is premature aging.  Not to mention the fact that tanning causes your risk of skin cancer to increase (which yes, can spread to your vital organs and become life threatening!).  According to a new study, those who use indoor tanning machines face a twenty percent increased risk of skin cancer.  If you started using tanning beds before you turn 35, your risk jumps to eighty seven percent!  So don’t chance it!  Follow these tips and tricks to get a healthy glow without the damage.

Hair and Makeup Tips for Summer

Summer is one of my favorite seasons, especially in Southern California.  You get nice hot days for outdoor activities such as lounging at the pool or beach, and wonderfully cool nights for barbeques and hanging out.  However, with all the busy activities that summer days and nights provide, it’s hard not to make a couple beauty blunders along the way - especially when you need to make your look last from day to night.  So here are some issues that I have had to deal with because of the hot weather and long days; hopefully it will help you to avoid and prevent them!

Tips For An Acne Breakout

It always happens when you have something important coming up.  When you wake up all excited for your first date, or you have an important meeting or presentation at work, a pimple will appear in the most conspicuous place.  You never know whom you are going to run into or meet, so you always want to look your best and cover up and get rid of imperfections. So what are some tips and tricks to cover up an existing blemish and keep your skin clear and blemish free for the future?

Don’t pick at it.  Your first natural instinct when you wake up with a pimple is to mess with it.  Squeezing it and picking at it will irritate it more and can cause scarring and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation to occur (which will make the pimple appear to last longer).   If you must mess with your zit, do it the right way.  If the pimple has already broken the surface of your skin, you can put a hot towel or compress on it, and then pop it.  However, make sure you push up because you don't want to force the bacteria down deeper to cause a bigger zit! 

Get the Right Look for Your Next Job Interview

Graduation ceremonies mark the beginning of summer, and for all the new graduates (or if you are back on the job market), it means tons of job applications and interviews.  For existing employees, it means you have an influx of new competition heading your way.  Whether you are a new graduate looking for a job, or an existing employee trying to gain competiveness in the workplace, you want to give a good impression to your current or future boss.  Trying to get through all your job applications and thinking about what to say during interviews is stressful enough, the last thing you want to have to do is worry about the way you look. Here are some tips and tricks on how to keep yourself looking professional and interview-ready in the workplace!

Look Less Tired

After the nice long Memorial Day Weekend last week, many of us were exhausted when we headed back to work. With the modern hectic lifestyle, everyone gets tired. Whether it’s working long hours, spending time out with friends, or staying up all night with a sick child, sleep deprivation seems to be more and more common every day. So grab a caffeinated beverage and try these suggestions on how to look brighter and more energetic despite the lack of sleep!

Plump It Up

With the recent summer blockbusters such as The Hunger Games and The Avengers breaking records at the box office, a lot of attention has been paid to the stars of these movies. After all, who hasn’t noticed Jennifer Lawrence's beauty and Scarlett Johansson’s plump luscious lips? According to Marie Claire, Scarlett Johansson’s lips are one of the most requested looks received by plastic surgeons. Many people desire a fuller, sexier pout – it not only adds to your attractiveness, but also radiates youthfulness. So what can you do to get a celeb-worthy pout?

Anti-Aging for Your Forties and Fifties

Last week we discussed how to prevent aging in your twenties and thirties.  This time we are going to move on to prevention for your forties and fifties.  This is the time when your skin will show permanent changes that you did not experience when you were younger.  Follow these tips and tricks to age gracefully!

40’s.  When you start to hit your forties, the wrinkles (laugh lines, plus the lines on your forehead) won’t disappear like they did when you were in your twenties or thirties. When women start reaching your forties, your body does not produce as much estrogen as it did when you were younger, and this causes skin to become dryer and less elastic.  For men and women, there is the loss of much-needed collagen in your skin.  Click here to read about how Sculptra helps to rebuild your skin’s collagen and increase facial volume.

Anti-Aging for Your Twenties and Thirties

I have noticed that more and more people around me are starting to worry more about getting older now that we are hitting our late twenties.  We are starting to notice our first little wrinkles (thinking that maybe it’s time to start Botox).  Or that a filler like Juvederm might soften the deepening parentheses around our mouths.  However, is this worry and anxiety that we are experiencing premature?  What should you really be worrying about at your age?

Look Younger With Bold Eyebrows

Say goodbye to those thin drawn-in eyebrows!  The hottest trend this spring is full, thick brows.  All the hottest celebs have full, natural looking (but groomed) eyebrows.  Who doesn’t love this new trend?  It sure is a lot less work to let your eyebrows be natural and only have to tweeze stray hairs.  Not only that, but full eyebrows frame your face (and especially your eyes) and make you look younger.  When you get older, your eyebrows start to thin out, and they become a sure giveaway that you are aging.  So put those tweezers down, and follow these tips so that your eyebrows don’t make you look older!

A Meditation on Medi-Spas

Medical spas, also known as “Medspas” or “Medi-Spas,” seem to offer the ideal combination of relaxing comfort with cosmetic medical procedures. When set up and maintained appropriately, under the supervision of a qualified health care professional, they certainly can provide a safe, pampered environment for aesthetic medicine. And because the combination of comfort and care seems right to anyone with common sense, medical spas have proliferated in recent years.

 

Getting Cheeky

There’s a reason fashion models all possess high cheek bones. High cheek bones can naturally sculpt the face and draw attention to the eyes. However, not everyone is blessed with the high and prominent cheekbones most of us want, but there are ways to emphasize the cheek bones we do have. Makeup is the simplest tool to help create depth and shadow there by contouring and highlighting the right areas. It can be as easy as highlighting the ‘apples of your cheeks’ to define your cheekbones. Not only does this enhance your features, it also thins your face and enhances inherent beauty. Follow these easy how-to makeup steps to create the look of high cheekbones: