Flare, November 2007
Flare
Skin Care Feature
By Elaine "Lainey" Lui
From what I've seen, Asian skin tends to have a unique schedule.
It seems that it's all good until 60, at which point six decades of skin damage come knocking and overnight you're a new old woman.
I'm 34 now and my main skin-care objective is to fight this cultural peculiarity-not a simple feat given that I usually get up at 4 a.m. to
write for my website-all while reporting and frequently traveling (18 trips so far this year!) as a gossip correspondent for CTV's eTalk.
I am not a fan of the permanently orange tanning-bed hue à la Lohan, so I wear sunscreen diligently. Still, I can see the very beginning of
fine lines around my eyes. I'm sure the handful of cocktails night when I'm on the road partying next to George Clooney aren't helping my
skin at all.
At the cosmetic counter
Using Clinique's eight-question Skin Typing analysis on The Clinique Computer, Janice Black, regional education executive for Clinique,
determined that I have Type 2 (Dry/Combination Skin), which means I have very little production of oil and water in the cheeks but
an excessive amount in the T-zone. She called me out on my lazy soap-and-go facial-cleansing routine. Apparently I'm not doing
enough pre-cleansing to break down foundation and makeup products, which can result in a drab complexion. To get glowing, it
looks like I'll have to devote more than two minutes a day to my skin-care regime.
The prescription:
- Clinique Liquid Facial Soap Mild: $20
- Clinique Clarifying Lotion #2: $25
- Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion: $29
- Clinique Turnaround Concentrate Visible Skin Renewer: $47
- Clinique All About Eyes: $62
- Clinique City Block Sheer Oil-Free Daily Face Protecter SPF 25: $21
TOTAL COST: $204
At the dermatologist's office
I get the occasional breakout thanks to the layers of TV makeup I have to wear every day, so Dr. Joanna Day recommended a light moisturizer
to handle my "acne cosmetica." If I wanted to be proactive, the dermatologist also suggested Botox. When I recoiled in horror at
the thought of Nicole Kidman's frozen forehead, she reassured me that, with skilful application, Botox is virtually unnoticeable.
And if I get three or four little shots now to my crow's-feet area and the spot in between my eyes, I could ward off deeper
frowns and creases. It would also give me the immediate gratification of a fresher appearance by lifting the brow and opening
up my face.
The prescription:
- Botox (to soften and relax muscles in the eye area): one treatment, $400
TOTAL COST: $400
At the plastic surgeon's office
Since I often survive on a few hours of sleep a night, my eyelids can get puffy and droopy, leaving me with a dull visage in place of
the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed look my TV producers would prefer. To lessen the droop and give my eyes a wake-up call, plastic
surgeon Dr. Nick Carr suggested a one-hour eyelid procedure called upper blepharoplasty to remove skin and a small amount of
muscle and fat from the upper lids. On the plus side, stitches stay in for only five days, bruising disappears after seven days
and I could wear makeup again after one week, allowing me to be camera ready after very little downtime. There is a risk of
infection and scarring, however. "Asians age beautifully but scar worse," says Dr. Carr. I should've known my 34 years of
virtually wrinkle-free skin had to have a downside.
The prescription:
- Upper blepharoplasty (to reduce puffy, droopy eyelids): $4,850
TOTAL COST: $4,850