As baby boomers get older, they add new wrinkles to skin care

Baby boomers are willing to pay to reduce wrinkles, spots and saggy skin.
NEW YORK (AP) -- M.J. Wyatt looked at herself in the mirror one day three years ago and didn't like what she saw. She looked tired and old. There were lines around her eyes.
The New York public relations executive started doing something about it, going to a dermatologist who injected the lines on her face with Botox, a drug that paralyzes muscles to temporarily prevent the skin from wrinkling. Wyatt, 50, repeats the procedure every 10 weeks, paying about $1,000 each time.
Many baby boomers, those 76 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964, like Wyatt, are spending a lot of money on their skin. Their rationale: They don't feel older, so why should their skin betray their age?
"Your skin at 50 does not look like it did at 20, but there are a lot of things you can do," Wyatt said.
Nonsurgical choices
Boomers' treatments of choice are nonsurgical procedures that involve lasers and injections. These procedures, a $2.2 billion a year industry, are vastly more popular than plastic surgery.
In 2002, nearly 5 million people underwent nonsurgical cosmetic procedures, while 1.6 million had surgery, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. And of those 5 million, nearly half, or 2.3 million, were ages 35 to 50.
The most popular cosmetic skin treatment is Botox, with more than 600,000 boomers getting injections last year, according to the plastic surgeons' group.
Other nonsurgical treatments are laser resurfacing, in which some lasers stimulate collagen beneath the skin to reduce wrinkles and others work to eliminate brown or red spots that come with age. There are also chemical peels, in which chemicals are applied to the face to make it appear younger, and microdermabrasion, a technique in which crystals are gently "sandblasted" against the face.
In addition to her Botox regimen, Wyatt, the public relations executive, said she also recently paid $1,000 for laser treatments.
"It's not cheap," she said of the cosmetic work, but added that it's worth it.
Dermatologists attribute boomers' interest in the procedures to a large portion of disposable income and a huge desire to look as young as they feel. And, they say the reason that the nonsurgical treatments are so popular is they are less expensive than a face-lift and require less, if any, recuperation. Some treatments can be done during a lunch hour.
Boomers "want their skin to be refreshed. They don't necessarily say, 'I want a face-lift,"' said Brad Katchen, a New York dermatologist. "They want their skin to look good for their age."
Less costly
Katchen said the prices of cosmetic procedures are attractive to boomers when compared with plastic surgery, which can run into the tens of thousands of dollars.
Boomers are also aware that they could live and work longer than their parents did and they want to look youthful and healthy as long as possible, said Brandith Irwin, a dermatologist in Seattle who's also a boomer.
"Fifty percent of my cosmetic patients are baby boomers. They say they want to look vigorous and healthy and good as long as they can. And [they say] that they realize they are getting older but they might live to be 90," said Irwin, who is 50.
But there are boomers who say cosmetic treatments are too pricey for their wallets and prefer cheaper ways to rejuvenate their skin. Mary Alice Kellogg said she buys skin creams and purchased an at-home facial system, supplies for which run her about $100 a year.
"I have reached that age when moisturizers outnumber many things in my medicine cabinet," said Kellogg, a 54-year-old freelance writer and editor in New York.