Dan Ocampo / The Californian Kathy Cronkhite receives an injection of Botox from Dr. Darshan Shah.

But not anymore.

Now she saves her extra dollars for Botox and Restylane injections to give her facial miracles that she can see almost immediately.

Cronkhite, 46, receives the injections from Dr. Darshan Shah several times a year.

"I've never found anything in a jar that does what this stuff does," Cronkhite says. "The only way to do it is to go under the muscle."

While it's Botox's power to paralyze specific facial muscles that has received a lot of press, Cronkhite and Shah consider Restylane's ability to fill in wrinkles just as impressive.

"Restylane is the new thing I can't live without," Cronkhite says.

Taking stock

Before the injections, Cronkhite and Shah look into a hand mirror, discussing what they will target.

The laugh lines running from her nose to the corners of her mouth -- she wants those reduced with Restylane.

She wants Botox to smooth the folds on her forehead formed from her "pain face," which she's made a lot over the years due to her migraine headaches.

That's what initially sold her on Botox. "He said we could get rid of the pain face," she says.

One she wants addressed is above her left eyebrow, which is beginning to look like a scar, Shah says, with the constant lifting of her eyebrow.

Shah begins the process by smoothing on numbing cream to reduce the sting of the Restylane. The tiny, sharp needles that deliver the treatments generally cause little to no pain. While the cream is taking effect, he begins with the Botox.

"One, two, three," Shah says softly before slowly squeezing the needle, starting at the sides of her mouth to reduce her "smoker's" lines.

The lines usually begin to clear up by the next morning.

Shah works up her face with the Botox needle, wiping up tiny pinpricks of blood with sterile gauze.

Cronkhite gets injections beside her eyes and then up her forehead, on either side.

After the treatments, "I couldn't make a frown face if my life depended on it," Cronkhite says.

Then Shah pulls out a vial of Restylane that he uses to fill out the folds creating her laugh lines and a few specific wrinkles elsewhere on her face.

Within minutes, Cronkhite sees a flattening of her laugh lines.

"Oh, that's perfect," she says, pausing before pointing to another wrinkle.

"Can you get that one?"

Reasonable results

Shah says he doesn't promise miracles and most customers don't expect them. But he says clients at his surgical offices and at his Shaanti Medi-Spa often are impressed with the results.

"People come in here for 10 to 15 minutes," he says. "It really makes a difference about how they feel about themselves for the next six months."

He cautions, however, that people wanting Botox treatments should do their due diligence when choosing a practitioner. Inexperienced physicians can accidentally wreak havoc with the toxin's powerful paralyzing power.

"It's important to have someone who's been trained in facial anatomy," Shah says. "The face is the most complicated area of the body as far as muscles are concerned."

Cronkhite saves up to afford the beauty treatments.

"Instead of spending $150 on a department store product, I put it in the bank," she says. When it comes to birthdays and holidays, she asks her family for money that she can use toward her facial treatments.

Her friends and family can tell the difference, but most importantly, so can Cronkhite.

"I think I look terrific for in four years being 50," she says. "I'm like a walking billboard for why you want to do Botox."

Besides, she says, if her face looks good, the rest is just details.

"Your face is what you wear every day," she says. "If you look really good, you could wear a paper sack and nobody cares."

"I couldn't make a frown face if my life depended on it."
-- Kathy Cronkhite after receiving Botox treatments

Botox: $200 to $650

Botox, or botulinum toxin, approved for cosmetic use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2002, prevents individual muscles from contracting. When the muscle stops moving, the wrinkle ceases to form. The effect usually lasts three to six months.

Botox also is used to temporarily paralyze muscles in people with movement disorders.

Most common side effects: bruising, headache, respiratory infection, flu syndrome, temporary eyelid droop and nausea.

Restylane: $450-$600

Restylane, made with synthetic hyaluronic acid, which the body naturally produces, was approved for cosmetic use by the FDA in December 2003. It works like collagen injections, filling in lines and wrinkles, and is considered safer. The effect usually lasts six months to a year.

Most common side effects: swelling, redness, pain, itching, discoloration and tenderness at the injection site.

Sources: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Allergan, Q-Med and Shaanti Medi-Spa.

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