Now the Young Seek Fountain of Youth

July 9, 2006 — -- Everyone is looking for a fountain of youth and more women are finding it in little tweaks rather than drastic plastic surgery. As the more minimally invasive techniques are growing in popularity, cosmetic procedures no longer carry the same stigma.

Jacqueline Silvers is 24 years old. As a teen, acne left her face a little scarred and she desperately wanted to change her skin.

"Your face -- it's what they first see when they meet you and talk to you," she said.

Silvers met with Dr. Sam Assassa, who recommended intense pulse light laser treatments or IPL's. The total cost was $500.

"I've noticed a lot more clarity," she said. "I've noticed some of the marks have faded."

So-called lunchtime lifts are popular because they're minimally invasive and recovery is quick. In the past eight years, more than 2.3 million have had similar procedures.

"A lot of these things are skin maintenance procedures," plastic surgeon Alan Matarasso told "Good Morning America Weekend Edition." "The best analogy is to think of your skin like your teeth: You start brushing your teeth at a very young age. Your skin is the same way."

"You don't want to wait until you see visible signs of aging to treat your skin," he added. "I don't think it's unreasonable for young women in their late teens and early 20s to treat their skin. The lasers and the peels and the IPL-- those procedures can be done a couple of times a year when you're young. "

Most 20- and 30-year-olds who undergo plastic surgery get liposuction and breast implants, Matarasso said. Eye-lifts come in at a close third. Most lifts, he said, are only semi-permanent, unlike nose jobs and liposuction, which last forever.

Undo Old Damage

Some young people like former model Chrissy Albice want to undo damage they did in previous years. Albice, 34, felt she damaged her skin from smoking and years in the sun.

"I don't want my eyes cut, I don't want a face lift, but I always think if you maintain your skin and you take really good care of your skin then that's the best way of maintaining that youthful look," she said.

Albice and her doctor came up with an aggressive $2,000 regimen, consisting of a few IPLs, botox, and mesoface lifts where her doctor injects a solution of retin-a, vitamins and minerals into her skin. Assassa said injections trigger collagen growth.

The procedure left Albice slightly bruised and bloody, but she said fighting the aging process is worth it.

"As long as I look young, it doesn't matter what my age is," she said. "And you wake up one day, and you're like, 'Oh my god,' you know, 'I'm 45, I'm 50, and I didn't take care of myself,' "

While 2005 was the biggest year ever for the use of botox, dermatologist Jessica Wu said the big shocker is that botox and chemical peels are now being requested commonly by people as young as 25 to 35 years old.

Strike Early

"If a woman comes in who is in their early 20s and she wants to look 12, I'm the first one to send her home and say, 'There is nothing I can do for you; come back in 10 to 15 years,' " Wu said.

Matarasso said botox actually works better on younger skin because, "You want to get those lines early rather than later. We wouldn't necessarily start a 13-year-old on these treatments. But if you're 28 and you have wrinkles around your eyes, it's fine to get some botox."

Matarasso cautioned that mesotherapy, like the mesoface lift Albice had, is not always effective. Mesotherapy usually is done on the body to promote fat loss.

"Some people think it's for cellulite, some people think it's a substitute for liposuction," he said. "People usually inject it into the middle layer of the skin … to get rid of fat. And while it's good to not undergo surgery, I don't think it's as effective as liposuction. Also, it's not regulated, so from therapist to therapist you could get different results."