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Lunchtime lifts
Botox, teeth whitening, chemical peels: Your lunch hour will never be the same
BY JULIE SURATT

Wouldn’t it be fun to return to the office after lunch looking 10 times better — and years younger — than when you left? Modern cosmetic procedures have gotten so efficient that you can get your teeth whitened, your lips enlarged, or your wrinkles smoothed away in the time it takes to grab a bite to eat at the local lunch counter.

Let’s start with those frown lines across your forehead. An injection of botulinum toxin ($400–$800) decreases wrinkles in a mere five minutes by blocking nerve impulses and temporarily paralyzing the muscles under the surface of the skin. "Botox is good for people in their 30s, who aren’t ready for a brow lift," says Dr. Ramsey Alsarraf, a cosmetic surgeon at the Newbury Center, in Back Bay.

For plump, luscious lips à la Angelina Jolie, Restylane ($600) is in, and collagen is out. Restylane, which the company’s Web site describes as "a crystal-clear, non-animal, biodegradable gel," lasts longer — six to nine months (as opposed to four to six) — and "people don’t tend to be as allergic to it," Alsarraf says. The injections take about 20 minutes.

Now look closely at your face. See those tiny broken capillaries on your nose and cheeks? Dr. William Adams, of the Adams Center on Newbury Street, will zap ’em with a low-voltage electric current, destroying them in a matter of seconds ($150). He’ll also rid you of those unsightly spider veins on your legs by injecting them with saline solution in a procedure called sclerotherapy ($470). You’ll be back at work in half an hour — albeit sporting Golden Girls–esque support hose for a few weeks.

The next step is exfoliation. With winter finally behind us, it’s time to slough off the layers of dead skin on your face instead of trapping them under moisturizer. "You’ll look younger as a result," says Alsarraf. During micro-dermabrasion ($150), an instrument gently shoots aluminum-oxide crystals onto the skin for 15 minutes to remove the top layer and smooth lines, scars, and wrinkles. It feels like a cat licking your face, says Claire McArdle, owner of Beauty Therapies, in Brookline. Another alternative is a chemical peel ($150), which, despite the name, is a painless 30-minute procedure that uses a chemical solution to remove the damaged top layer of skin, thus evening out pigmentation. Get either treatment before you go on a big date: "You’ll look fabulous that evening," says McArdle.

So now you’ve got a smooth, blemish-free face and miniskirt-worthy legs. What next? Have your teeth whitened in 90 minutes at BriteSmile ($600), and then get the hair on your upper lip laser-treated at Essentially Bare in Cambridge ($75–$125 per visit), a five-minute procedure that destroys the hair follicles at their roots after three to five sessions. And for the finishing touch, consider getting eyeliner permanently tattooed on your upper eyelids ($300) at CloseUps Inc., in Cambridge. After all, beauty is skin deep.

Where to find it:

• Adams Center, 18 Newbury Street, Boston, (617) 262-2208; www.adams-center.com.

• Beauty Therapies, 1 Brookline Place, Suite 302, Brookline, (617) 739-8888; www.beautytherapies.com.

• BriteSmile, 75 Newbury Street, Boston (617) 867-9500; www.britesmile.com.

• CloseUps, 1798A Mass Ave, Cambridge, (617) 492-3056; www.closeupsinc.com.

• Essentially Bare, 777 Concord Avenue #102, Cambridge, (877) 906-2273; www.essentiallybare.com.

• Newbury Center, 69 Newbury Street, Boston, (617) 375-0500; www.newburycenter.com.

• Restylane, www.restylane.com


Issue Date: April 2 - 8, 2004
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