The things we do for “beauty”

The NY Times has another headache inducing article up, this time about the new array of “at-home” anti-aging devices that are being sold. These devices “emit” all kinds of crazy things– pulsing heat, L.E.D.s, and electrical currents. They are being sold for hundreds and hundreds of dollars for women to use at home, unsupervised, and zap their faces back to “youth.”

“One of the major issues with these home-use devices is they promise more than they can deliver,” said Dr. Arielle Kauvar, a dermatologist and associate professor at New York University School of Medicine who specializes in laser-assisted treatments. The claims they make — that skin will be tightened or fine lines and wrinkles minimized — are largely cosmetic, so the manufacturers do not need approval by the Food and Drug Administration, only clearance, said Dr. Kauvar, which is easier to get.

A manufacturer that claims scientific proof of its product’s effectiveness is probably using the term loosely. For example, the makers of the RejuvaWand, an L.E.D.-based massaging tool said to “reverse the signs of aging” that came on the market in February, promote their two-month clinical trial. But the trial involved only 36 women, with no controls. Of the 36 women, 31 reported their skin had improved, said Marc Maisel, a company founder. The participants used a gel with hyaluronic acid, which also can plump skin, Dr. Kauvar said.

NuFace, too, advertises its scientific appeal. Based loosely on a procedure used to treat Bell’s palsy, the hand-held device emits electrical microcurrents meant to stimulate muscles, which the makers claim tightens the skin. But it hurts. So does the ThermaClear, a heat pulsing tool for combating acne. Applied to the skin, it emits a hot zap, enough to make you recoil. NuFace stings. Except for the eye-crossing bright light it emits, RejuvaWand is not painful, though it does carry an explicit warning not to look into the beam, even when it is off.

Great. So they probably don’t work, they hurt and they just might be dangerous.

Good to know.

You know what bothers me most about these kinds of articles? It’s not the information. Yes, the information on its own is highly troubling, but that’s not the fault of the reporter, and I think that we probably should know about this crazy kind of shit. It’s their choice of “sources.” Let’s see, we have a crazy middle-class woman with too much time and money on her hands, who will apparently inject or zap anything in her face if someone tells her that it might make her younger. Then there’s the people who sell the products, and a few doctors who question the “safety” of the products.

What the hell happened to the voice of reason who asks why women are paying hundreds of dollars for products that they have to know, deep down, won’t actually do anything and cause them physical pain? When did THAT voice become the crazy old kook in the conversation? When did we start interviewing people who think that Gardasil is going to promote promiscuity any time there’s a story about the vaccine, and stop interviewing people who say that we live in an insane youth and “beauty” obsessed culture where women are harming themselves needlessly when there’s an article on vanity products?

Because that voice seems to rarely come up, anymore. It didn’t in this article, even though it seems like the perfect opportunity. Instead, they talk about whether or not these potentially dangerous, painful and highly expensive products actually “work” and find out if Ms. Botox’s apparently crippling lack of self-esteem has been assisted by them. So. How did we get to a point where women are sending electrical currents through their skin, and no one stops to ask whether or not we’ve gone to far?