As a preteen, I had a feature that interfered with my confidence. I had a genetic condition called mandibular prognathism, sometimes called Hapsburg jaw. This condition causes the lower jaw to grow much faster and larger than the upper jaw. The result: My jaw began to grow, and grow, and grow, to my horror and consternation. There I was in junior high school, and my jaw and I (I thought of it almost as its own entity) made Jay Leno look weak chinned. Believe me, when you are a skinny, geeky eleven-year-old Asian kid with Coke-bottle glasses and a bowl haircut who is already terrified to talk to girls, a monster chin does not help the situation at all.
At first, my chin was merely prominent. Then it became an architectural feature. When you could set a drink on it, I wanted to hide in my room. High school is humiliating enough, but for a nerd with a monster jaw, it’s pretty much unbearable. Every day, my chin grew larger. I examined it in the mirror. I used a hand mirror to check my profile. Yep, there it was, in all its glory, preceding me into every room I entered, practically announcing my presence: “Hey, everybody! Look at me! I’m Tony’s ginormous chin! Oh, and Tony’s here, too. He’s back behind me somewhere.”
I wanted to do something about it. I wanted plastic surgery, but my parents didn’t like the idea. They thought I looked fine. (Of course they did. Sheesh!) However, by the time I finished high school, even my parents couldn’t deny that my chin had taken on a life and a personality of its own. They finally consented to plastic surgery, and after that, everything changed for me. The young man I was becoming on the inside finally resembled how I looked on the outside. That was exactly what I was going for—I didn’t want to change my face out of vanity. I just wanted to look like myself. What that surgery did for my self-esteem (and eventual recognition by members of the opposite sex) inspired me to become a plastic surgeon.
But this isn’t a book about plastic surgery. This is a book about bringing your outside in line with your inside. This is a book about options. Maybe you are fifty, and although you hear fifty is the new thirty, what you see in the mirror is only a distant relation to how you remember yourself in your thirties. It doesn’t have to be that way. Maybe you are forty but you still feel twenty-five, and your reflection startles and alarms you because it isn’t the you that you feel like inside. I have answers. Maybe you are thirty and you are seeing the first signs of aging, like crow’s-feet and forehead wrinkles, but you still want to rock a bikini. You can.
Sure, aging is natural, but does it have to happen so soon? I can’t stop you from aging, but I can stop you from looking like you are aging. Aging happens more rapidly and dramatically in some people than in others, but there are remedies, solutions, and fixes that don’t involve surgery. In fact, most of them shouldn’t involve surgery, in my opinion. I may be writing myself out of patients, but I can’t recommend that everybody go under the knife. It’s simply not necessary. You can look younger, your skin can look smoother and brighter, and you can feel better without plastic surgery. This book will show you how.
Nonsurgical techniques can’t solve every problem, and I’ll be sure to level with you when that’s the case, but with the advent of technology and chemistry behind the antiaging revolution, they sure can solve a lot of problems that you may have right now. And I’m going to tell you all about those nonsurgical techniques—I’ll also tell you when those so-called miracle products don’t really do much of anything and when you should save your money for something more effective or enjoyable (like a glass of wine or a massage—both have antiaging properties!).
Fortunately for all of us who are concerned with the superficial effects of aging, there are many, many effective products—from topical creams to fancy technological devices—that really do make a difference. I strongly believe that nonsurgical treatments are the future of plastic surgery, and a source of real and meaningful solutions for those of you out there who would do almost anything to get rid of the sagging neck, the fine lines, the sun damage, the cellulite, or the bags under your eyes—anything except surgery.
In this book, I’ll address all your cosmetic issues and show you everything you can do to turn back the clock and correct the minor (and even some of the major) things that really bug you, from stretch marks to wrinkles, from natural frowns to varicose veins, from yellow teeth to body odor. For each problem, you’ll get a full range of strategies, from natural remedies to the latest cutting-edge products and tools. I’ve even provided you with an Age-Fix diet plan, to keep you younger from the inside out, starting today.
I’m not that guy on an infomercial trying to sell you a miracle. I’m the guy you can go out for a drink with after work and know he’ll tell you what’s what. Wouldn’t it be great if you had a friend who happened to be a plastic surgeon, and you could ask that friend anything and get a straight answer? That’s me, and that’s this book.
I’ll also be perfectly frank with you about what you can expect with different levels of treatment. And despite the premise of this book, I’ll even tell you when plastic surgery really is the only good option. (This is true sometimes, but less often than you might think.)
In other words, this is a book you can trust, with information you can use, that really will make a difference in the reflection you see in the mirror. It is a bible of cosmetic remedies. Pick your trouble spots and watch the calendar flip backward. Watch your skin tighten, your flab firm up, your wrinkles melt, and your eccentricities morph into assets. All of this is possible… without surgery. The answers lie within these pages, so let’s get an age fix. Let’s dive in. You’re going to come out looking like a younger version of you.