As I watched the Academy Awards last week, I noticed that there is certainly no shortage of beautiful men and women in Hollywood. The truly distinguished, however, are the actors and actresses who have managed to maintain successful careers, and a refined appearance and persona over several decades.

These are not the stars that we see in the tabloid magazines. These are the beautiful, iconic faces that typically grace the covers of Vanity Fair, GQ, or Vogue. These are the type of good looks that we try to emulate with cosmetic surgery, fillers or Botox. While we can’t make our patients look like celebrities, we can accentuate positive features such as cheek bones, lips, eyelids, and noses with nonsurgical and surgical interventions. Small amounts of Botox and Juvederm in the right places frequently result in a recognizable improvement in overall aesthetics.

Dr. Theda C. Kontis, M.D. from John Hopkins Medical Institute recently published an excellent scholarly review of injectable facial fillers. In the February 2013 issue of JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery, Dr. Kontis reviews the history and safety record of Hyaluronic acid, the main component of Juvederm, which has now been used for over seven years. Safety data has been recorded from over 400,000 patients with an adverse reaction rate of 0.06%. Most commonly used medications have an adverse reaction rate between 2-10%. In 2011, 1.2 million patients were injected with Hyaluronic acid in the United States. Based on those numbers, we can extrapolate that approximately 100,000 patients received Hyaluronic acid injections in Canada. This confirms what I tell my patients: Hyaluronic acid fillers such as Juvederm are very safe and effective. The best news in all of this is that you do not need to reside in Beverly Hills or make twenty million dollars a movie to enhance your true beauty.

Have a great March. Spring is just around the corner.

Dr. Keohane