These treatments are regularly performed to create an appearance that the patient might find more youthful, more healthful or simply more desirable. Many patients purchase these noninvasive treatments as part of a ?regimen? that involves repeat clinic visits. Facial rejuvenation often becomes the simple, inexpensive beginning of a personal ?total body makeover? program that later includes more elaborate surgeries. Nearly four million facial rejuvenation treatments were performed in America during 2008. Drug and grocery stores also regularly sell over-the-counter treatments that are advertised to be as efficient as the work of specialists.

Chemical peeling enlists the use of chemical solutions ? usually highly diluted acids ? that gently peel away outermost layers of facial skin. The layer of skin which then surfaces usually looks more fresh and often less wrinkled to varying degrees. This process can also be used to treat acne, and in more extreme versions that require more painful chemicals, the patient may be put under anesthesia. This was the most highly employed method of facial rejuvenation in 2008, with more than 590,000 chemical peels performed.

Dermabrasion and microdermabrasion are more physically aggressive skin treatments that use abrasive particles or surfaces to polish away top facial layers of dead skin. The former term applies to a version of this process that is more severe and, again, is often done under anesthesia. Microdermabrasion, on the other hand, is painless and is often a popular request in health spas.

Laser skin resurfacing uses laser technology to dissolve the molecular bonds of wrinkles, scars, acne, sun damage or other undesirable marks on the facial surface. This procedure is considered a more aggressive form of facial rejuvenation, since it can target such marks in a powerful and more direct manner. The laser treatments can target a specific area and remove skin layer by layer without causing any damage to facial areas nearby.

And laser technology is similarly used for non-invasive skin tightening, which allows a specialist to use a laser to send heat into the skin. This can cause enough tissue tightening to trigger the production of new collagen. This formation of collagen can give the skin a tighter, more firm look. Patients regularly request this painless and non-invasive technique to lift eyebrows, reduce wrinkles and to firm the cheeks and forehead.

Overall, surgery performed in America solely for cosmetic reasons has increased nearly 50 percent since the beginning of this century, and facial rejuvenation is a large segment of this increase. The ?body modification? industry, which once catered to a subculture, has fully entered the mainstream. Those who undergo such modifications usually claim feelings of attractiveness and increased self-esteem.