Top 5 Nonsurgical Skin Treatments for Women

Looking for a skin treatment that could help roll back the clock on your looks?

Maybe you're a boomer gal who's not yet ready for surgery, but definitely starting to panic about the aging process. Or maybe you're a young woman -- in your late 20s or 30s -- looking to preserve your good looks as long as possible.

Either way, you may be a candidate for one of the biggest booms in self-improvement -- skin treatments designed to update your looks without the drama, downtime, or cost of an operation.

From wrinkle injections, to laser resurfacing, to the muscle-relaxing effects of Botox, experts say, a world of easy and affordable options awaits you.

And, in fact, more women may be taking advantage of these opportunities than you realize. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgery (ASPS), more than 8 million women had nonsurgical cosmetic procedures in 2005.

At the same time, not every procedure is right for every woman -- or every problem. To help you discover which of the top treatment options might be right for you, WebMD consulted three noted cosmetic and plastic surgeons. Each gave us advice on what the ASPS reports are the 5 most popular cosmetic treatments being done today.

Skin Treatment No. 1: Botox

What It Is: Without question, the most popular wrinkle treatment -- in fact, the most popular cosmetic procedure of any kind -- is Botox. This treatment consists of injections of tiny amounts of the botulinum A toxin directly into the muscle that lies below a wrinkle.

"The toxin binds to the nerve endings and blocks the release of a chemical that would otherwise instruct the muscle to contract. This in turn causes the muscle to relax, creating a smooth surface where the wrinkle used to be," says Rhoda Narins, MD, a dermatologist at New York University Medical Center.

Narins says it's best used for problems on the upper third of the face: "wrinkles in the brow, the '11' lines between the eyebrows, frown lines, and the typical crows feet around the eyes," she says.

More recently, though, Botox has been used in conjunction with wrinkle fillers (see below) to increase the longevity of both treatments, Narins tells WebMD.

How Long It Takes: A treatment takes about 30 minutes.

Cost: Each treatment costs between $300 and $500 dollars, with the effects lasting 4 to 6 months.

Potential Drawbacks: If you're looking for instant results, this may not be the treatment for you -- it takes about a week to see a difference, and about 4 weeks to see the full effect.

Potential side effects included droopy eyelid, headache, and nausea. There have also been reports of muscle weakness, localized pain, inflammation, tenderness, and swelling at the site of the injection.