Even though the mother-of-the-groom is the last person anyone looks at, when my son got married this past June, it was important to me that I look my best. The winter had not been kind to me. I had a long bout with shingles, and skincare had gone to the wayside. I caught a glimpse of a mature-looking woman in a mirror in April and when I realized it was me, I decided to seek professional help.
Dr. Joseph Muccini took one look at me and told me I looked “very worried or perhaps constipated.” I wasn’t either, and this definitely was not the look I was going for. He said with a new skin regimen and a few well-placed fillers, I could have a more “inviting facial expression,” which in layman’s terms means I wouldn’t look so mad.
Working with his aesthetician, the first step was to create a new regimen. I began using Epionce Skin Care, which quickly reduced the redness and ruddiness in my face. Since sunscreen often has been an afterthought for me, I have lots of sun damage and fine lines. So the next step was to be one of the newer treatments available, the SkinPen.
This creates microscopic incisions in your face. While it sounds counterintuitive, the healing process afterward is what gives you results. As it heals, your skin becomes tighter and lighter. This means it should reduce fine lines and visible sun damage. The process takes about an hour to do your entire face. First they smear the face with numbing cream, which is a good thing if you don’t like pain. Even numbed, I still felt little pricks. Luckily, they weren’t painful, just annoying. As far as downtime, I looked bright red for 24 hours, followed by some mild bruising. But I have to say that after a few weeks, the fine lines around my lips diminished. Though to be honest, I am not sure if it was due to the SkinPen or the Epionce Skin Care products. Who really cares—my skin looked healthy instead of haggard.
My final step to wedding beauty was a visit to Dr. Muccini himself, who delivered strategically placed filler and botox. Now, I am no novice when it comes to either of these treatments. In fact, I have a love/hate relationship with them: I love them when I have them, and hate them when I don’t! But I also have a strong fear of ending up looking like a cast member from Real Housewives of Orange County. After all, facial movement is critical to my favorite activity, talking. After numbing my face, those tiny needles turned my permanent frown upside down. Say goodbye to my resting bitch face (RBF). Then Botox took care of the etched number 11s in my forehead. And yes, there was some bruising and swelling, for about three days.
So, what do I think of all these glamorous treatments? I like the results and would do it all over again. Yes, I will continue with the skincare regimen, since my skin has never looked so good. The filler-botox changes were subtle. No one, except for everyone reading this column, would know that I had anything done to my face. I look well-rested, more approachable and my RBF is not as bitchy.
Alas, no one, I mean no one, gave me a glance at my son’s wedding. All eyes were on the beautiful bride. It didn’t matter. I looked a lot better than the middle-aged woman in the mirror who shocked me into action back in April.
