Done right, no one will know. But everyone will notice.

There’s a saying in cosmetic/medical aesthetics world about the best-of-the-best: “Done right, no one will know, but everyone will notice.”

The trick in considering any cosmetic and/or medical-grade aesthetic treatment or service is to work to get the greatest bang for that hard-earned buck.

It’s a bit of a dilemma because not everyone comes with the same genetic predisposition for wrinkle-free skin, a firm neckline, lack of age spots and cheeks that never lose their suppleness. You may or may not keep your father’s line-free, cherry-lipped smile. You may or may not have to face (pun intended) the dreaded “pouty mouth,” wherein you look like you are chronically unhappy. Perhaps your eyelids will never suddenly turn crepey, hang over your eyelash line and nearly make you blind (because you can’t see beyond the saggy eyelid).

But on the other hand, you might wake up and find one or more of these items appearing on the horizon of your beautiful mug at age 35 or on your 61st birthday. Word to the wise: Spend the dough at 35 (or at least 40) and plan to incorporate addendums to the 40-years-old regime because you’re going to want it.

Here’s how it works: The fact of the matter is that, as we age, we not only lose the “spanks factor” (elastin) but we also lose the foundation that holds our faces up. Bone mass, muscle, fat and elastin all begin to disintegrate as early as your 40s. If you’ve a lot of sun exposure and damage, it can easily begin a decade earlier. 

So let’s say you head to your favorite medical-grade aesthetician and you and she elect to give you 15 units of Botox and 1 syringe of Juvederm^TM (filler) before your 20-year college reunion, which does wonders to eliminate those menacing little lines etching their way around your face.

The cost of these treatments at 40-years-old is approximately $1100 and lasts three-to-five months for the Botox and nine months for the filler. Three times-a-year facials and a moisturizer add about a $330 annual investment to “stay young.”

That’s about a $2,200 to $3,000 a year upkeep budget – at age 40.

Fast forward 10 years and you’ve a whole new can of concerns to worry about. Skin that was flawless at 40, at 50 often has brown spots and red veins. Cheeks grow flatter and temples cave in. Chins appear and creases across those chins show up. Crazy grooves sprout on your lower eyelids and cheeks and, as your brows appear to “hang low,” and your jaw line more or less disappears, that original $2,200-a-year regime that brought so much confidence and fun to your face, suddenly seems to be lacking. It just no longer cuts it.

The point is to expect and budget for a lovely skin-care scheme that eventually must be revisited. It’s like driving on tires long past their prime. You may still put thirty pounds of air in the tires, but suddenly they are not as buoyant, they don’t look as full and they don’t drive as smoothly.

So goes your skin and face care. It could be that, at age 50, you add a bit of laser skin resurfacing, for texture, or you and your aesthetician incorporate simple chemical peels for maintenance. Maybe you’ll choose to opt for a surgical procedure that course-corrects your sagging jaw line and droopy eyelids.

And it also might shake out that you and your aesthetician decide to eliminate the Botox and that, 10 years after launching your first skin care plan, there’s a better filler that lasts longer and looks even better – new products and services appear all of the time and rarely does what you’re using at 40 prove to be the best option at 50.

Sir Thomas Browne (English polymath and author of varied works in science and medicine) said, “Let age, not envy, draw wrinkles on thy cheeks.”

I say, you never have to witness wrinkles “draw themselves” on your face for any reason. Treat early and monitor. Switch it up when necessary. Find a good, comprehensive team in the medical-grade aesthetic industry and establish a science-based, industry supported plan of products and services.

Follow that plan and spend wisely. Our longevity is ever-lengthening and our skin health has never been more important. Investment in same has never been better, long-term-wise.

Go ahead – attend that 20-year reunion and live the aesthetics industry creed, first-hand, knowing that “no one will know, but everyone will notice.”