Celebrities in Hollywood have found their way to Hair Science Institute too

Blame silent screen-era director D. W. Griffith for the cult of perfection in Hollywood (and the rest of the world): His pioneering closeups arguably led to generations of actors (supposedly everyone from Marilyn Monroe and Greta Garbo to Burt Lancaster and John Wayne) becoming plastic surgery guinea pigs, ready to try everything from cheek-plumping paraffin shots, precursors to today’s fillers, to painful hairline electrolysis. To help the most crinkled faces, early cinematographers started “Vaselensing,” coating the camera lens with Vaseline—a practice that seems both quaint and kind in this era of HD cameras capable of discerning every pore and all but the most undetectable dermatological interventions.

“People think that the true beauties of the world don’t do anything,” says Danny Holbus, founder of the beloved Los Angeles medispa DMH Aesthetics. “The reality is that they just have a lot of subtle work—a little bit of everything. It’s only the bad work that we notice.” Indeed, New York City derm Robert Anolik reports that one noted perfectionist visited his office daily for two weeks, receiving microdroplets of lip filler until her mouth achieved its ideal shape. “My celebrity patients want very slow and steady improvement rather than a dramatic change in one visit,” Anolik says.

Which is not to say Hollywood has become any less adventurous in its pursuit of perfection. In an industry in which billion-dollar franchises can succeed or fail on the power of an MVP’s star wattage (and beauty), the antiaging industrial complex finds no shortage of test subjects. L.A. continues to be ground zero for experimentation, full of medispas devising new off-label ways to wield FDA-approved lasers and injectables. Should an “advancement” be deemed too risky for stateside docs, stars also know where to find what they’re looking for in overseas clinics (London and Paris for injectables, Israel for lasers). Another bonus of doctor-shopping abroad: “The paparazzi aren’t as bad outside of the U.S.,” says Lisa Goodman, founder of Goodskin L.A. medispa.

LIFT IT

When the thread lift was launched in 2005, promising a mini-facelift with little to no downtime, Hollywood jumped. But that lunchtime procedure—permanent barbed threads were tunneled beneath the skin to hoist up sagging tissue—fell out of favor after one Ari Gold type infamously had a thread snap while on the red carpet. (The FDA withdrew its approval in 2009.) A new iteration provides the same lifting effect, with two significant upgrades: It stays in place better thanks to additional hooks, and the threads (previously tricky to remove if anything went awry) dissolve in seven months, with benefits lasting up to two years. Plus, studies have found that by repositioning skin, threads spur collagen growth in adjacent tissue. Extra-thick versions, like the new Silhouette Soft, create a more dramatic lift and can be used off-label to pull up necks, breasts, and even elbows and knees. “I first saw threads a couple of years ago in Paris and thought, This is amazing. I was sending my celebrity clients to Europe before I started doing them here,” says Goodman, who charges between $1,500 and $3,000 per zone, per session (most subjects require two rounds). “The initial result is immediate, unlike lasers, which require patience,” says Goodman, who believes that threads can deliver, in just 30 minutes, 70 percent of the lift of a surgical facelift without the months of healing. But Düsseldorf-based orthopedic surgeon Barbara Sturm remains skeptical of threads’ safety. “There’s a risk of inflammation and infection, especially around the anchors,” she says, noting that if not properly placed, threads can also be visible through the skin.

For head-to-toe skin tightening, some celebs are dropping up to $100,000 for full-body ultrasound-based Ultherapy (currently FDA approved for use only on the face, neck, and chest). “The lack of downtime is key for celebrities—you don’t have to hide,” says Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Leif Rogers, who promises that a single session will deliver visible tightening in three months. As Ultherapy vets know, the treatment can be painful on bony areas such as the jawline, but Rogers notes that it’s less so on the stomach and hips. Indeed, in his office, celebs get double-timed: He teams up with another MD, using two Ultherapy devices at once to cover the body more quickly. An unlikely awards-season target zone? Armpits. Sweat reduction is a welcome Ultherapy side effect.

For head-to-toe skin tightening, some celebs are dropping up to $100,000 for full-body ultrasound-based Ultherapy (currently FDA approved for use only on the face, neck, and chest). “The lack of downtime is key for celebrities—you don’t have to hide,” says Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Leif Rogers, who promises that a single session will deliver visible tightening in three months. As Ultherapy vets know, the treatment can be painful on bony areas such as the jawline, but Rogers notes that it’s less so on the stomach and hips. Indeed, in his office, celebs get double-timed: He teams up with another MD, using two Ultherapy devices at once to cover the body more quickly. An unlikely awards-season target zone? Armpits. Sweat reduction is a welcome Ultherapy side effect.

SHRINK IT

Lipo scars? So last century. Now, fat-freezing CoolSculpting treatments minutely slim large zones such as the stomach and flanks, while injections of fat-melting Kybella erase smaller pockets around the armpits, inner thighs, knees, and even ankles. One pop star, dressed in her exam gown, treated Anolik to a bit of choreography: “She was trying to show me an area of fat that bothered her, but it was only apparent when she did a certain move,” the doctor says. Luckily his office features the body-shaping equivalent of a NASCAR pit crew: Time-pressed clients can be hooked up to four CoolSculpting devices simultaneously. He calls it quadrotherapy. “You can treat the bra fat and both love handles in 35 minutes,” says Anolik, adding that results—up to a 25 percent reduction in fat—are visible after three weeks and continue for three months.

Officially launched in 2015, “Kybella is FDA approved to treat double chins, but doctors can use it off-label wherever they want,” Rogers says. “It works best on small deposits of extra fat, like on the inner thighs or above the knees to make the legs look more shapely and athletic.” Rogers carved out one soap star’s six-pack with two rounds of shots, spaced six weeks apart, without anesthesia or downtime. “Lipo can create uneven areas that look weird if you gain weight back,” he says. “Kybella diffuses, so it’s hard to mess it up.” Depending on the body part treated, injections can be painful; swelling, which can last up to a month, can be substantial. But according to Rogers, the primary risk is temporary nerve damage. “The ankles are especially tricky, because there are lots of small nerves there,” he says. “If you injure one, you’ll have numbness. But nerves grow back.”