FRONTIER AIRLINES WILD BLUE YONDER - JULY/AUGUST 2004
THE YOUNG AND THE REST OF US

By Nancy Clark
If it weren’t for Hollywood, how young would the older of us look? Who would guess that the ever-tanned George Hamilton is 64 years old and still a forerunner in the player playboy coterie of currently hot actors? Or that Cher is 57 and struts her stuff on stage wearing corsets and garters as outerwear that only a handful of women half her age would dare wear in the privacy of their homes? Forget baseball; retaining our youth has become America’s new favorite pastime.

No doubt about it, the fascination with youth is a phenomenon generated by the silver screen, and in more modern times, the TV. Cable, Dish TV, the VCR and Tivo allow us to replay our favorite movies and series shows again and again. The impression that these actors and actresses leave on the regular rest of us is indelible. It used to be that the trim fit, buff, and naturally handsome actor always got the girl, who was, naturally curvaceous, with a flawless complexion, silky tresses, and beaming an even-toothed smile.

Naturally, all that’s changed.

Today’s leading ladies and men, whether they’re on screen or caught unawares by the lenses of paparazzi are keeping up appearances using any number of methods and treatments from implants to liposuction to facelifts. As well they’re opting for less invasive solutions like strict diet regimes to botox. Moreover, they are modeling for viewers around the globe (“Baywatch” is the number one show broadcast in many foreign countries) what the ideal youthful body is, however unnatural it may be.

Baby-boomers who grew up watching television and frequenting movies observed that their favorite icons didn’t seem to age in the same way that mom and pops did. In fact, some of these stars and starlets seemed to appear younger as calendar years passed. An awareness was born: Hollywood had something the rest of us didn’t. Endless youth. And we wanted the same.

Research and science and medical advances have proven that there are ways to prolong life. Eat healthy, exercise, don’t smoke. Jack LaLanne was the first to tout fitness as a way of life, delivering his message right into our living rooms while exercising in leotards in front of millions of Americans. Richard Simmons was next. Even at government level, the continuum of health was a priority. The Surgeon General first campaigned against cigarette smoke and its byproduct, carbon monoxide. Then he invoked citizens to exercise promoting physical education as part of the curriculum in schools across the land. And lately, he’s jumped on the anti-obesity bandwagon, this country’s latest scourge.

Fitness and youth go hand in hand. But that doesn’t mean that fitness is only for the young. Boomers claimed everlasting youth as their entitlement. Who says that because you’re nearing six-ought decades on earth that you have to settle for a comfy chair, crochet needles and colorful yarn as a hobby? Even the more sedentary types have found solace in charging their endorphins to higher levels through exercise. They discovered that by working out, or even just walking, symptomatic aches and pains were eased and their general attitude improved.

As more average Americans bought into the fact that keeping fit is a direct route to the fountain of youth, they wanted not only to feel internally healthy, but to project that image outward...like their Hollywood counterparts.

Enter lifts, lipo, and lasers.

Dr. Richard Asarch has witnessed an evolution in his 30 years in practice. “A shift has happened,” says the dermatologist who graduated from the University of Iowa and did his general surgery residence in the Air Force followed by a research fellowship in ENT (ear, nose and throat). While his training was in treating disorders and disease, “as in most things in medicine, we’ve found that it’s better to look at prevention.”

Prevention in terms of dermatology can be largely sized up in three words: maintaining beautiful skin. And as the body’s largest organ, the skin covers a lot of territory.

As Dr. Asarch became more and more involved in performing cosmetic treatment for patients, he became more invested in researching the aging process of skin and ways to counter correct what naturally (or unnaturally) happens to skin as it ages. The results are included in his book “Turn Back Your Face Years: A personalized handbook for beautiful skin.” In it, he identifies the properties of aging skin—wrinkling and lessened elasticity—and the processes available to turn back face time.

“By minimizing the signs of aging in your skin, you can change how others perceive you,” he says.

Ah-ha! It is how we were feeling, and now the doctor has validated it. The desire for baby-soft skin has driven women especially to spend collective billions at the cosmetic counters in pursuit of anti-aging creams and ointments. In fact, says Dr. Asarch, scientists have proven that some very specific agents really do help: Tretinoin (Retin-A, Renova or Avita), Alpha hydroxyl acids, antioxidants, Vitamin C, Alpha lipoic, MDI, ASC III, Retinol, Furfuryladenine, Hyaluronic acid, Copper, and CoEnzyme Q10. But even the effectiveness of something as simple as Vitamin C is recommended at the low pH form and very few companies make this kind of vitamin C. Don’t waste your money on the wrong kind, he admonishes.

In his earlier days in practice, it was the patient in his/her late 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s who sought answers to cure their aging skin. Today, great numbers of patients in their 30’s are seeking treatment for the fine lines that are starting to refract in the mirror each morning. “They don’t want to get old,” says Dr. Asarch plaintively.

One of the newest non-invasive procedures on the market is the Therma Lift, a mini face lift using radio frequency laser technology, the Therma Cool TC System. The RF rays are zapped over the skin, creating heat at a deep level to stimulate new collagen, and shrink and tighten the skin. Some change is apparent immediately with the rest of the lift evident within three to four months. The only side effect is that the skin is pink for one-half hour. And the only downside, says Dr. Asarch, is that not everyone gets the same degree of tightening.

Nonetheless, patients well into their 70’s are taking advantage of the less-than-one-hour Therma Lift as opposed to the month of downtime involved in a traditional facelift. In the doctor’s office, rather than the surgery operatory, they may spout an “ouch” now and again as the laser does its work, but, notes Dr. Asarch, most patients don’t mind the discomfort knowing that they will look younger with treatment.

The face, it seems, is the first place that people begin to notice their advancing years. “Everyone will get wrinkles eventually,” says Dr. Jeffrey Raval who earned his bachelor’s in biology from the University Of Michigan School Of Medicine in Ann Arbor and received his medical doctorate with distinction from the same school. He did his residency and internship at the Department of Otolaryngology at Washington University Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, his fellowship in Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in the Department of Otolarynology at the University of Miami in Florida, and is board certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery. He earned the third highest score in the country on his Facial Plastics Board exam.

Caucasians tend to wrinkle more than other demographic groups. But wrinkles run deeper than just the skin. The tissue begins to fall and people lose bone and fat. Surgically speaking, repair raises things back up into the place it originally started out. Besides pure facelifts, there are brow lifts, mid-face lifts, forehead lifts and eyelid lifts to remediate the sagging.

The eyes, says Dr. Raval, are often the first place that age shows up. Even thirties-something patients are having their eyes done to regain the youthful appearance that only recently went AWOL. Hollywood actors and actresses used to apply egg whites under their eyes to hold them up firmly. Eyelid and under-eye surgery today is vastly different than it was only years ago and is changing even as your airplane approaches for landing.

“It used to be that we took the fat out from underneath the eye,” explains Dr. Raval. “Now we’re finding that the wall that holds the fat in place weakens with age and people develop a groove under the eye.” The downside of simply removing the fat is that the eyes can appear a bit sunken as aging continues. Advancements in managing the wall of muscle that holds the natural fat in place bring new hope to those with a tendency to show puffiness under their eyes.

“The exciting thing is that there are new minimally invasive procedures available,” says Dr. Raval. One of those leaps in medical technology is fat repositioning. Surgeons are able to harvest the fat—the abdomen is a likely area—and inject it into other places on the face and body to smooth the skin’s appearance. “Basically, it’s about balance. If the lower one-third of the face looks 20 years younger than the upper, or vice versa, that’s when you have the plastic look.”

Known as “The Nose Guy” among surgeons, Dr. Raval performs rhinoplasty surgery typically for women in their 30’s, although men and late teens also undergo the procedure. He prides himself on presenting patients with options for their noses that are in proportion with their other features as well as retaining full function. He’s declined reforming noses for patients who insist upon a nose that won’t suit them well either functionally or appearance-wise. As part of the aging process, the cartilage at the tip of one’s nose loosens and falls. Nose lifts can correct that.

Surgery to recapture youth or to correct a misshapen aspect of one’s face can be life-changing, says Dr. Raval. He’s seen it happen. “Bottom line, beautiful people get treated better...they get better service at a restaurant...they get better response in business. Surgery can make people more confident to the point that they have no problems talking to strangers. Then again, the people who say, ‘If only I had [surgery of choice] my life will change’ and it doesn’t happen, they blame the doctor. This job is one-half psychologist and one-half surgeon.” To wit, he’s suggested to patients who are seeking plastic surgery to satisfy emotional agony that they consider other options, like counseling.

Again, it comes back to balance. “Generally the people in their 70’s and 80’s who are getting cosmetic surgery are the types who have taken care of themselves all along.”

Balance is the premise of hye Studio, a workout named for hydraulic yoga resistance. While yoga is an ancient practice, it’s taken root in Denver in the last few years with new yoga centers sprouting up in every sector of the city. From teens to seniors, men and women are seeking the benefit of yoga training of all types—some in heat-elevated studios and others in single sex settings.

Why the big attraction to an age old art so suddenly? “These are people who are active already, but are not finding what they’re doing to be complete,” says Deborah McLaughlin, founder of the hye philosophy and studio in LoDo. McLaughlin touts the benefits of strength training combined with yoga practice as a well-rounded, complete workout for the body and mind. This combination, she has found, gives women of any age and fitness ability an advantage over the natural aging process.

Starting in our mid-thirties, women lose ½ pound of muscle each year and become more prone to weight gain. In a study of women over 50 who did strength exercises two times a week for one year, the results were profound. Each woman gained an average of three pounds of muscle, but lost three pounds of body fat, gained bone density at the hip and spine, gained balance and confidence and lost dress sizes.

He embraces the ancient tradition of yoga with the modern technology of hydraulics, yoga being the Yin to hydraulics’ Yang. Yoga enthusiasts promote that continued yoga will cure many of the ailments women especially have grown to expect as they age. Not only does yoga improve one’s circulation and flexibility, but it promotes healthy posture and body regularity. Because of the concentration that’s inherent in the yoga practice, it as well fosters mental clarity, purpose, and balance.

“Balance is a great thing when you’re older,” says McLaughlin, of the compacted workout: one-half hour of yoga followed by one-half hour of hydraulic resistance training on Pilates-like equipment that requires no changing of weights or waiting in line. It’s possible, says McLaughlin, to burn 700 calories during a workout because the body’s heart rate stays in the desired zone continuously.

It’s also possible to learn to accept your body, even if it isn’t perfect, in this non-competitive, welcoming environment. “Whether we are lean and thin or full-figured and curvaceous by nature, it is time to accept our bodies and simply be the best we can be. We should strive to maintain good health without going to extremes to fit the media’s image of perfection. To that end, hye’s purpose is to support women appreciating their bodies and it’s a philosophy that should be passed onto our daughters and granddaughters as well. Young women have so much to deal with today. They don’t need to mirror the media’s image of the perfect body style. Give it up, be grateful for the body you have, make peace with it, and strive to keep it strong for many healthy years to come,” says McLaughlin.

“Health,” “beauty” and “youth” are inextricably linked, even only if in our individual interpretation of the different words mean. Take pedicures, for instance.

For most of her career as a Certified Podologist International by the Canadian Examining Board (a distinction only a few Denver pedicurists can claim) Michelle Marchand, owner of TheNailBar, has tried to convey one message: Pedicures aren’t just for chic women wearing strappy sandals anymore. Wise women (and men) see regular pedicures as healthful. In business since 1989, Marchand has deployed her extensive knowledge about treatment of the feet to clients anxious to take the bark out of their dog-tired feet.

Thorough and meticulous, Marchand has a number of clients in their 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. “They are the same women who have their hair done once a week and still make the effort to put on pearls,” says Marchand. “They take care of themselves and always have. And they inspire my younger clients.”

Marchand recommends that clients partake of an hour-long pedicure at least once a month. For quick touch-me-ups in between, Marchand also offers the Basic Bar Pedicure, a 30 minute pedicure at half the price. With regular sessions, she insists her clients can maintain callous-free feet and avoid thick, yellowed toenails, another aspect of aging.

So why paint your toes if nobody is going to look down your socks? “This is not a frou-frou thing,” says Marchand of pedicures. “It’s all about health.” And it looks good too in sandals or barefoot, like the movie stars we long to imitate.

Another of the quickest fixes possible to keep younger looking is hair color, says Rocky Greco of Paul Garcia’s in Cherry Creek North. “Just seeing the transformation in the chair improves one’s outlook. The media has put more emphasis on looking younger,” Admittedly, he notes, “Stars that look perfect are really not normal.”

Ninety-five percent of Greco’s clients get color in his chair. Even his male clients. “I color my own hair on the crown so that I don’t start to look like a Cadillac,” says the slightly graying Greco of his own locks.

Even how we imbibe can help maintain our health and youthfulness. Claude Robbins, Master of Wine Arts and President of the International Wine Guild in Denver, hosts a radio show called “The Wine Guy” from 5 to 6 p.m. Sunday afternoons on ESPN 560AM. One of the references he refers to often is “The French Paradox,” a 12-year study by a group of French doctors identifying that moderate consumption of wine—one to two glasses a day—prolongs life. The original study was done some 20 to 30 years ago, but since then, says Robbins, the English, Germans and Danish have come out with their own supporting studies.

In general, the health benefits are cardiovascular (“That’s the alcohol factor,” says Robbins) as well as impacting cholesterol and triglycerides. Red wines especially are moderately high in tannin, reducing cholesterol factors in the body. While most red wines are beneficial in this area, so are some whites, in particular those that are slightly bitter and dry the mouth out.

But the benefit is derived from the limit, explains Robbins. “Studies conclude that those who drink no wine have twice as many heart attacks as those who drink one to two glasses of wine a day. But drink three glasses of wine a day and the risk of heart attack jumps to higher than if you had nothing at all to drink.

For neophyte wine drinkers, Robbins recommends familiarizing yourself with the grape over a period of weeks starting with one glass of Gamay or Beaujolais, not exceptionally high in tannins, but a good starting point. Then, says Robbins, move onto Pinot Noir (grown all over the world), followed by Dolcetto and Barbara (hailing from Italy, and then Burgundy (French) to get all the tannins you require. Better yet, move onto the Cabernets, Merlots, and Shiraz wines—all red, full-bodied wines. If you still favor white wine, Robbins recommends those grown in the Southern Rhone Valley of France that have a lot of color, but are not oaked, or any white that is oaked, such as Fat Bastard Chardonnay.

Keeping young, keeping fit, and keeping the fun in it are the challenge in any adventure. Robbins would lift a glass and say, “Cheers.” Youth too.