Who is the fairest of them all?

BANGALORE: Did someone say beauty is skin-deep? In cosmetic parlance, external beauty is very much what you want it to be and definitely, a lasting proposition. Or so say the rising legion of clients chasing dermatologists and cosmetic surgeons to seek aesthetic treatment facilities.
It''s simply the feel-good factor. After all, the silicon city with a disposable buck in its kitty, has manufactured several beauty queens in the recent past and the transition is bound to be.Making a beeline to aesthetic care clinics with equal gusto are the men and women to look younger, feel more confident and become famed trendsetters.
If some are looking for fabulous blemish-free, wrinkle-free supple skin tones in their 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s and more, the younger breed are there for a different purpose — nose correction, breast augmentation, change in skin colour and hair removal/transplant techniques etc. For the record, city''s dermatologists and plastic surgeons see more of youngsters in the age group of 20 to 30 than those over 30.
Says Dr S.C. Rajendran, consultant dermatologist and president of Bangalore Dermatology Society, "Bangalore is the leading city in South India in offering cosmetic treatments in hair removal/transplant, chemical peal, micro dermabration and laser treatment for various procedures."
Not surprising, the city which had just one laser hair removal technology three years ago now has registered about 25 laser hair removal technologies.
Around 50 per cent of the existing plastic surgeons are practising cosmetic surgeons as well. However, facelifting is yet to make a headway in the city, doctors feel.
Practising skin care experts swear by evidence-based treatment. Most of the technology offered by reputed skin care clinics in the city are approved by Federal Drugs and Administration (FDA), an international approving agency for the machinery, used in skin and hair care.
Consultant plastic surgeon Dr R. Balaji feels there is still reluctance in getting some of the procedures done. "For the unmarried, we insist on taking their parents into confidence, which is when youngsters back out most often," he felt.