“I don’t feel prettier, I don’t feel younger. I just feel scarred.”

These are the words from Laura Perella, the author of Chasing Beauty, her cautionary tale of the toll chasing beauty through plastic surgery took on her life.

Laura chose to have fifteen surgeries from age 25 to age 35, and spent $60,000 hoping to improve her already God-given good looks. She now warns others who might be swayed into believing that surgery and injections will stave off Mother Nature’s tromp across their faces that they might meet up with the same bad plastic surgeons she hired. Today at 39 years of age, she shares her plight: “I don’t feel prettier, I don’t feel younger. I just feel scarred.”

Laura is probably the exception because most patients do not undergo quite so many procedures. She encourages young women to seek other modalities because chasing beauty through plastic surgery takes a toll on your body, your good looks and certainly your bank account.

You know, Laura is not alone because many plastic surgery users have spoken out regarding their disappointment with their surgical results. One plastic surgeon remarked that ‘Plastic surgeon’ has been called a psychiatrist with a scalpel. More aptly plastic surgeons are not the magicians their clients wish they were. There are wonderfully trained surgeons but unrealistic expectations and surprises can derail even the best procedure.

What women want is a younger looking face. One that is toned and tightened. They want natural beauty, not man-made, cookie-cutter features.

If you choose surgery and injections these methods may produce disappointing results; surgery is dangerous business and yes, cosmetic procedures are indeed surgery. Tummy tucks, liposuction, facelifts, eye lifts, jowls lifts, neck lifts all require sedation and cutting.

Using injections to plump nasal labial folds, lips and more can also produce disappointing results; allowing injections of toxins and chemicals to paralyze your facial muscles also have drawbacks like creating droopy eye brows and bunny wrinkles alongside your nose. What? More wrinkles?

Yes, when you paralyze one portion of your face, your surrounding muscles must compensate for the paralysis. The paralysis primarily immobilizes a particular muscle but studies show that there is migration of the serum especially when it is injected into the face - namely it migrates to your brain.

The warnings include the usual superfluous ones like swelling, redness at the injection site and maybe a droopy eyelid that will probably correct itself in a few weeks - certainly in less than three months. The very telling danger lies in the words of caution such as:

• Paralysis of a nearby muscle that could interfere with opening the eye(s)
• Disorientation, double vision or past pointing (dizziness or imbalance)
• Temporary asymmetrical appearance
• Abnormal or lack of facial expression
• Local numbness
• Headache, nausea or flu-like symptoms
• Swallowing, speech or respiratory disorders
• Facial pain
• Product ineffectiveness
• Muscle atrophy
• Nerve irritability
• Production of antibodies with unknown effect to general health
• Death
• Serious disability

Some of the most unusual authorization aspects are the statements that a patient must agree to if they choose Botox:

• I am aware and accept that no guarantees about the results of the procedure have been made or implied.
• I understand and accept that the long-term effects of repeated use of Botox Cosmetic are as yet unknown.

The effects of Botox are temporary yet the effects can cause long-lasting side effects. Just so you know other injections that plump up the grooves in your face and deflated lips have no long term testing either so if you are disappointed that your results do not meet your expectations you might want to consider non-invasive methods.

Choosing surgery and injections cost a lot of money and long-term use may put your heath at risk. Is this good common sense? Yes, injections are less radical than surgery but over time there can be complications. Remember, there has been no long-term testing on any injection used for cosmetic purposes.

So what can stop the downward slide of your face?

Specialized [Link Removed] act as a preventative measure and also help reverse the look of aging in your face. Just as exercise works for your body, facial exercise techniques that isolate, anchor and contract the muscles using gloved thumbs and fingers will lift, tone and tighten sagging facial muscles in hardly any time at all.

A sagging face is a result of soft, lax, droopy muscles. The facial skin is attached directly to the tiny, hidden muscles so when these muscles elongate from lack of use, they drag your skin downward, creating wrinkles that add to the look of old.

Most facial exercise users love their results and will tell you that their new faces developed slowly but surely when they dedicated themselves to exercising regularly. [Link Removed] without one stitch or injection. Using thumbs and fingers and armed with the knowledge that you can create a younger looking face that everybody notices, you'll never have to worry about an addiction to surgery or injections.

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