When it comes to beauty, the new technology boasts of “gain without pain.”  Buzz words like minimally invasive technology and no downtime have become the latest mantras. A New Jersey Medispa promises, “We can now deliver dramatic results without people missing a beat out of their busy lives.” Only time will reveal the truth of such promises, but if these technologies really work, who can resist?

The December 2011 issue of Bazaar describes three such technologies. If you’re still a “young’un” between 30 and 40, you may be looking for a holiday pick-me-up that is stronger than drugstore creams but milder than intense lasers. Your goal is to look smooth and glowing, but you don’t want to go into hiding while you’re red and swollen. “Clear + Brilliant” is a new laser that’s safe for all skin colors, costs $250 to $500 per treatment and requires six treatments spaced two weeks apart. Your skin will be pink immediately after treatment but fades within a day. The laser works by creating a wound-healing response under the skin that stimulates collagen.

For the soccer moms, age 35 to 45, Matrix is designed to improve early signs of aging and improve acne and chicken pox scars. To understand how Matrix works, imagine an inverted ice cream cone. A Nashville dermatologist says, “The tip of the cone represents the energy on the surface, and the scoop is the remainder, which spreads out under the skin.” To get eMatrix under your skin it will cost $750 to $1,200 a treatment. For lines and wrinkles, you will need two to three treatments and for scars, three to four treatments. Following treatment, you will look red, but only for a day or two.

Finally, here is the noninvasive big gun to take care of deep lines, wrinkles, acne scars and general sagging. ePrime is a nonsurgical facelift that promises to tighten skin and address thinning skin and volume loss. A clinical study co-authored by a dermatologist and assistant clinical professor at Yale quantifies the skin-tightening effects of ePrime as “37 percent of what you’d get with a facelift.” However, the Bazaar article does not indicate how the “37 percent” effectiveness comparison with a facelift was reached. Without knowing the parameters of this study it is difficult to evaluate its validity. Before undergoing such treatment the wise consumer should ask, “What is the scientific evidence that this treatment works?”

With this treatment, you will have superficial bruising, redness and swelling, lasting up to 48 hours. Claiming to boost not only collagen but also elastin and hyaluronic acid production, ePrime purports to restabilize the whole supporting structure of the skin at $2,500 to $4,500 per treatment; however, and Happy New Year, you need only one treatment!