Can You Look 10 Years Younger in 3 Days?

May 17, 2004 -- Even if they try to look their best, what woman in her 30s, 40s or beyond wouldn't mind turning back the clock a few years?

In the latest "Monday Morning Makeover," Good Morning America met two ordinary working women — a newly divorced mother and a newly married jewelry designer — who wanted to turn back the hands of time and look 10 years younger in three days.

Good Morning America brought in a glam squad, a team of six glamour/style experts, to help. You can see the final results Wednesday, but here is the progress so far.

Makeover No. 1: Rachel Bertoni is a 46-year-old artisan jewelry maker who lives in upstate New York and has been married for two years. Like many women, a busy work schedule leaves her with little time to focus on her appearance. But she has a gallery opening next month, and expects to see old college friends.

Bertoni wants to look fabulous for the event and feel younger, but has a few areas that need improvement. She has gray hair that has thinned out on top, and her teeth need whitening. She would also like to lose weight.

Makeover No. 2: Jennifer Woodhouse, 38, runs a magazine's Internet division. Her teeth need whitening and she wears glasses. She also has thin lips. She doesn't have any gray hair and has been highlighting her hair, which is long and straight. She is currently dating a 20-something and fears people will think that she is his mother. She has two children.

On Monday, the team of experts went to work. Today, they reported on their progress.

Face First

Dr. Pamela Lipkin, a plastic surgeon, also works on wrinkles. Bertoni's main problem was that her face was beginning to sag, Lipkin said. She had lines around her mouth, and lines that extend from the nose down, the first signs of aging. "We concentrated on filling those in," Lipkin said. To do so, she used Restylane, a facial wrinkle filler that has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, to fill in the crevices between her nose and mouth. Lipkin also filled in the crevice below her lower lip, and in between her brows to erase the frown-like lines etched on her face.

For Woodhouse, Lipkin also used filler. The focus was on her lips, which were always thin, but had virtually disappeared as she got older.

"We focused on plumping up the lips to the point where she felt comfortable," Lipkin said. She also worked on the crevices around Woodhouse's mouth and between her brows.

Finding a Brighter Smile

Dr. Wilma Fernandez-Antonio worked on whitening Bertoni's teeth.

"With years of smoking, and drinking coffee and tea, her teeth became really yellow to a point where she's not comfortable smiling," Fernandez-Antonio said. "So we bleached her teeth."

After the whitening, she focused on chips in Bertoni's teeth. Fernandez-Antonio did some bonding to fill in those areas.

She also whitened Woodhouse's teeth, using a one-hour brightening system. She then put a bleaching solution on her teeth and shined a plasma light on her mouth to complete the oxidation or whitening process.

Goodbye, Glasses

Dr. Penny Asbell, an ophthalmologist, worked on both women's eyes. They both wear glasses, and were having problems with reading.

"One of the signs of aging, which is sensitive to many people, is taking glasses on and off," Asbell said. "So Rachel had been trying different things and nothing had worked. She wanted to try contacts and we actually were very successful."

Bertoni was not a candidate for Lasik surgery, because she is both near- and farsighted. Asbell fitted Bertoni for a type of contact lens called monovision lenses for Bertoni. One eye gets a lens that is better for seeing distance, and the other gets a lens that is better for objects that are nearby.

Woodhouse, who is very nearsighted, decided to get Lasik surgery. Without her glasses, she cannot see, but she always takes them off for photographs because she is self-conscious about them.

"It can be a big change — not only the quality of vision, but getting rid of the glasses, and having the freedom all day," Asbell said.

Clothing, Hair and Makeup

Ellen Kunes, the editor-in-chief of Redbook magazine, took the two women shopping for some new basic clothes as part of their transformation.

"One thing we're going to do is give them some vibrant color," Kunes said."Blues, pinks, peaches, all these kinds of colors really soften and make you look much younger."

It is also important for the women to wear fitted clothes.

"So many women will wear baggy clothes to hide their figures, but they're wrong," Kunes said. Baggy clothes actually draw attention to flaws rather than concealing them. Instead, wear fitted pieces with stretch material that flatter and move with your curves, she said.

Another trick: tighten your bra straps to give yourself a little lift.

She also suggests getting a haircut with layers, and wearing clear lip gloss over lipstick to instantly look younger.