Special Report: Beauty over the Border

For years collagen has been a woman's secret weapon filling in wrinkles and filling out lips -- we've even made jokes about over doing it...

Rob Reiner, "First Wives Club", Paramount Pictures
"If I give you anymore collagen your lips are going to look like they got stuck in a pool drain."

Goldie
"Good-morning Mohammed."

But the Hollywood buzz now is that stars like Madonna and Liz Hurley have been plumping up with something better... but you don't have to be a celebrity to get it.

Cheryl Gazin, Patient
"It changed the way I looked, it really did it enhanced my lips."

Marketed under the names Restylane and Perlane, it's called hyurlonic acid and it's a gel that works when injected under the skin -- literally lifts it up…

Dr. Thomas Rohrer, Dermatologic Surgeon
"And that's a substance that's already in our skin and it actually holds onto water."

Collagen lasts about three months and because it's made from cows, many experience allergic reactions. But now Restylane appears to be fast becoming the wrinkle remover of choice, lasting four times as long in some cases up to a year...

Dr. Arthur Swift, Plastic Surgeon
"It has taken over, probably, as the number one procedures that we're doing now."

Canadian plastic surgeon Dr. Arthur Swift has been using the product for eight years. He says the results are fast and natural looking...

Dr. Arthur Swift
"A patient literally gets off the examining table, looks in the mirror and will see about 80 percent of the result already."

What excites the medical community about Restylane is that it seems to out perform collagen in many areas. First of all it lasts longer, secondly since it's not an animal product, no pre-testing is needed and there are few allergic reactions...

Cheryl Gazin
"I see the lips I had ten years ago. Not the lips that were damaged from smoking."

Cheryl Gazin of Montreal is just one of the millions raving about Restylane's benefits

Cheryl Gazin
"I don't see an different person, just me younger..."

Five months after injection…

Dr. Arthur Swift
"I am really pleased with the way this stuff is holding up on you."

She still has her perfect pout...

Andrea Stassou
"So you are pleased?"

Patient
"Very!"

Retylane is popular world wide, but few Americans have heard of it. That's because it's not yet approved by the FDA to use, causing many women to cross the Canadian border to get it.

Andrea Stassou
"Any Americans coming here to get this?"

Dr. Arthur Swift
"Yeah sure, sure we have Americans coming up (smiles)."

But not all American's leave the country for their injections...

Dr. Thomas Rohrer
"Restylane and Peraline certainly are being used in the United States."

Boston area dermatologic surgeon Dr. Thomas Rohrer says Restylane is being used in clinical trials and by physicians unwilling to wait for the thumbs up from the FDA...

Dr. Thomas Rohrer
"In fact the New York Times actually just did a survey, ...and they found that one out of five of these physicians were willing to say that yes, they do use the Restylane."

Passports and illicit injections may be a thing of the past, the FDA is expected to approve Restylane later this spring...

The American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery says that nearly 600,000 injections of wrinkle fillers were performed in the U.S. last year. Experts believe that number will soar when Restylane is approved by the FDA.

For more information:

Q-MED
Seminariegatan 21, SE-752 28 Uppsala Sweden
Phone +46 18 474 90 00 Fax +46 18 474 90 07
www.restylane.com

Dr. Thomas Rohrer
SkinCare Physicians of Chestnut Hill
1244 Boylston Street, Suite 302
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
617-731-1600
www.skincarephysicians.net
www.skincarephysicians.net/dr_rohrer.html

Dr. Arthur Swift
4131 Sherbrooke Street West
Westmount Quebec H3Z-1B7
514 933 2353
www.drarthurswift.com