I NOW FEEL like a fully paid-up member of the high-maintenance set — I have my very own “derm” (dermatologist) and my very own nutritionist, about whom I can talk as possessively and obsessively as any Park Avenue Princess. My derm, one Dr Howard Sobel, to whom I am now forever devoted, was introduced to me by Wendy Lewis, who specialises in giving independent advice on all matters connected with cosmetic treatments and plastic surgery.
Dr Sobel is a qualified cosmetic dermatological surgeon who doesn’t do full facelifts, (though he advises and refers patients who want them) but specialises in what he calls “cosmetic dermatological surgery” — under one roof, in his very comfortable Upper East Side rooms, he offers everything from Botox and Restylane injections to microdermabrasions, liposuction and glycolic peels, as well as lots of rather more esoteric treatments. On top of all that, he also deals with more serious medical matters such as cancer.
I went along for a kind of exploratory consultation, a look-see if you like. What, I wondered, could he do for me? I wasn’t up for anything too serious as I was in New York for only a few days, but I thought it would be interesting to know what he would have prescribed if I was able to become a regular visitor to what he calls his Skin & Spa Cosmetic Surgery Centre. The answer was quite a lot. He would recommend Botox on crow’s-feet at the corners of the eyes, on the muscles under the neck, under the eyebrow and on the corners of the mouth. (These consultations are not for the squeamish — one has to learn to take this dissection of one’s dilapidations on the chin. I tried to pretend that we were talking about somebody else.) Then two medium to deep peels, something like six months apart, would “take the skin back five to ten years”.
The peels take off the top surface layers of the skin, exposing the fresher, less lined layers below; the milder peels cause scabbing and crusting for about a week, followed by a week or two of redness — after which, eureka, the skin really does (and I’ve seen the results on others) look much, much fresher. It can deal with lines around the lips, crows’-feet, and any manner of wrinkle. These days the deep dermabrasions of yesteryear are out of favour. “They work very well,” says Dr Sobel, “but the downside is that you have scabbing for ten to 14 days, followed by redness for two months. You’d be a very unhappy person.”
But then he proceeded to do something for me there and then — straighten out my lips and fill out some scar tissue. Nearly three years ago I was badly mugged and left with a lop-sided mouth — one side of my top lip was fatter than the other because of the scarring from the wound. After he had put some anaesthetic gel on my lip, he took the thinnest of needles and filled out my top lip with Silikon 1000 (it’s not available in the UK). He used tiny droplets, going very slowly, until the right top lip eventually matched the damaged left. He then slightly filled out a scar on the top lip until that too was even with the rest of the skin. It didn’t take as much as ten minutes and, unlike Botox, it stays there for ever. The change is so subtle that only those who know me very well would notice, but I can tell the difference and it’s a whole lot better than it was.
Best of all, though, is Dr Sobel’s magic laser — and this is specially for the reader who is getting married in a few months and wants her little red veins and blotches dealt with — the VersaPulse. Lasers are the latest and most effective way of dealing with veins — infinitely finer and more successful than the old-fashioned sclerotherapy. The problem with lasers is that they are constantly upgraded and they cost the earth — $75,000 to $100,000 (£48,000 to £65,000) a throw — so for those with the most difficult and finest of broken veins, Dr Sobel rents the latest model for one day a month and deals with the most tricky cases on the same day. Needless to say he has ready at his disposal other lasers for less delicately precise procedures. With some blotches and red veins of my own that I wanted dealt with, I flew in specially for the great day. He used one laser for the little red veins and another for the blotches. It took about 20 minutes in all. I left looking, frankly, frightful — little red marks all over the face and for the next two or three days I had a slight allergic reaction to something, I’m not sure what. In less than a week all the marks had gone. Now, two months on, I’m left with a very slight pinkness which is absolutely normal and gradually disappears, but the veins and blotches are all gone. I’m thrilled. I could — though I don’t — go out without any make-up on at all — and it’s a long time since I’ve been willing to do that. All that for $600 — as far as I’m concerned, cheap at the price.
Dr Howard Sobel, 960A Park Avenue, New York, NY 10028 (001 212 288 0060), www.drsobel.com. E-mail, info@drsobel.com
Wendy Lewis can be contacted through her website, www.WLBeauty.com, by e-mail at WLBeauty@aol.com or by telephone on 0870-743 0544.
For those who don't want to fly the pond simply to have their veins treated, I have several friends who have been to Dr Neil Walker at the Lister Hospital (020-7823 5056) and are just as thrilled with their results.
- IS THERE AN alternative to those noxious and patently chemical insect repellents that one is always obliged to take on holiday? Most of the ones that really work — and in places such as Africa where malaria is rife, efficacy is all — are packed to the gills with chemicals and smell so noxious that one half expects the skin to erupt in boils. Once, in Africa, somebody lent me an insectrepellent that smelled mostly of the sweetest lavender, and that really worked. It came from France, my friend said in her maddeningly vague way, but couldn’t remember precisely from where. Somebody, it seems to me, is losing a marketing trick there. Meanwhile, the next best thing that I've come across is Repelmist (pity about the name), which has a base of purified water and organic lavender water. These are then blended with organic essential oils such as citronella, teatree, cedarwood and grapefruit seed extracts. It smells lovely, is said to repel all the things that jump and bite (London being short of said small things, I haven’t had a chance to try it out) — and what’s more, children and those with sensitive skins are usually able to use it with no ill effect. It is made by Circaroma, a company that specialises in handmade organic products, and it costs just £5.95. Available by mail order: 020-7359 1135.
LUCIA VAN DER POST
