Arcona's treatment involves a series of increasingly stronger solutions applied in three visits two weeks apart. Like retinoic acid, glycolic acid causes the top layer of skin (epidermis) to slough off. The slight irritation reverses keratinization (thickening of the skin, large pores of damaged or aging skin) and stimulates the underlying dermis to produce more collagen and elastin. The skin heals in two to three days. A more intensive treatment is also successful in treating cases of severe acne.

Glycolic acid treatments, although more gradual, are safer than acid peels or dermabrasion. Acid peels literally burn the skin off, are painful, and sometimes cause permanent discoloration (white spots or brown spots). Dermabrasion is a harsh abrasion of the skin with sandpaper or other mechanical methods.

As with most practitioners of non-surgical methods, Arcona emphasizes diet and exercise as important adjuncts to prevention as well as healing.

Cosmetic acupuncture and the related technique of acupressure are not new. Facial rejuvenation is a very old Chinese medical tradition; one of the duties of the royal physician in China was to keep the empress healthy, young-looking, and beautiful. If the empress got a wrinkle, legend has it, the physician had his head chopped off!

Dr. Susan Lange, director of the Meridian Center For Personal And Environmental Health in Santa Monica, California, is a doctor of Oriental medicine and a licensed acupuncturist. Cosmetic acupuncture is but one aspect of a wide range of healing modalities offered at the Center.

"Acupuncture," she laughs, "is the laziest way to looking good I know of. You just lie there with your needles in three times a week for 10 treatments, stop for a couple of weeks, then go through the course again. After you've achieved the results you want, maintenance could be just a couple of visits a year."

But cosmetic acupuncture isn't always that easy. "Often," Dr. Lange adds, "before we can do any cosmetic treatments (for damage), we have to treat the underlying causes by strengthening the spleen or the kidneys or the lungs. These are the key meridians which are most important for face and skin. The kidneys control rejuvenation and balanced hormones in the body, the spleen controls muscles and blood. and helps with well-toned skin and good muscle support, and the lungs keep the skin well oxygenated for a nice healthy glow.

"A lot of people have face-lifts because of sagging around the neck and jawline," Dr. Lange continues. "When I see sagging and wrinkling, I know the spleen needs strengthening. So if we can strengthen the spleen, people won't need surgery in the first place."

In Chinese medicine, meridians are energy paths that run through the body. If these paths are blocked, the theory goes, illness occurs.

"Many people come into the Center after they have already had cosmetic surgery. Then," she says, "we have to deal with the scarring that blocks some really important meridians!"

Stress is one of the biggest causes of facial sagging and muscle weakness, so stress reduction is essential to looking good. Says Dr. Lange, "If you're feeling very stressed, your face is going to take on that taut, tense look. Believe it or not, besides healing the body, the acupuncture treatments are incredibly relaxing."

Arcona agrees, adding, "Including acupressure into a deep facial massage relaxes those chronically tense muscles which makes us look older. One treatment, of course, won't do. But like exercise, when you do it over a period of time, the muscles are toned and tightened and gravity can't pull them down."

Flavia Potenza is Los Angeles-based free-lance journalist and radio commentator.

To contact Dr Susan Lange email info(at)MeridianHolistic.com or visit www.MeridianHolistic.com

Email us for a free "how to" article: "The Lazy Way to Looking Good"