The Morning Sun When It's In Your Face Really Shows Your Age

For the past several weeks, I've been working on feeling better about myself. I've been losing some weight, buying new clothes and shoes, and trying to look my best. This is an attempt at building self confidence, and so far it's working pretty well. But try as I may, I'm having a really hard time getting past the wrinkling and sagging that is occurring on my 47 year old face.

During my recent visit to the dermatologist, we discussed this problem. I'm not interested in going under the knife, or doing anything drastic, so my dermatologist recommended a procedure called restylane. Restylane is a gel that is injected underneath the skin to plump it up and fill in the lines. The results are not permanent, but should last several months. During that time, my dermatologist will perform a series of regular chemical peels to remove the layers of sun damaged skin he says is causing the "cracking" effect I dislike so much. I'm told most patients are ecstatic with the results they achieve from restylane, particularly when combined with the peels.

Perhaps I'm being vain. Perhaps I should be satisfied with the face I've acquired over time...but right now I'm just not. My husband is rather skeptical about the whole thing and had some less than enthusiastic words to say about it, but I'm doing this for me. I don't want to come out looking like Joan Rivers--just looking like Mary from a few years ago would be wonderful.

I'll be posting some before and after photos, and will keep you in the loop about the procedure.