‘Very Well Deserved’
We’re So Vain…
I can see myself now, 85 years old and the only prune-faced woman in America. My grandchildren will shun me, but that’s OK, because smooth-browed dermatology students will come in droves to study my crow’s feet and my spectacular glabellar crease (that line between my eyebrows). I’ll be a living resource. And you can underline the word living. No frozen facial muscles for me, thanks. Keep your diluted toxin. I’ll keep and proudly display (and go right on deepening) the furrows that are the record of my life experiences. Barbara Quintiliano Malvern, Pa.
In the mid-1950s, I suffered from Bell’s palsy, a paralysis of the facial nerves. Doctors then didn’t have an effective treatment and told my parents it would either go away or last for life. Luckily it was the former. Thus it amazes me that healthy men and women are willing to be injected with a chemical to induce facial paralysis, however slight. Almost 45 years after my brush with Bell’s, I welcome every wrinkle on my now mobile face. I would rather grow old looking like Judi Dench than a department-store mannequin. Deb Schmidle Albany, N.Y.
I’ve tried hard, with no success, to find any difference between the photos of the Botox users in your story and the photos they are holding. It’s a stretch of the imagination to examine these “before” and “after” pictures and see any noticeable change. Does the emperor really have a new face after Botox treatment? Julie K. Stahlhut Kalamazoo, Mich.
I was very much interested in reading your recent cover story about the booming business of Botox. I settled in to peruse it on a flight from Las Vegas, where my dearest friend had just been married. Ultimately, though, reading became too difficult, as my left eyelid hung down, nearly covering my pupil. This odd and rather disturbing-looking effect was the result of a recent Botox injection I underwent to smooth the little frown between my eyes. Indeed, the area between my eyes became as smooth as a baby’s bottom. Because I couldn’t frown, people could hardly notice my real feelings of frustration about my unwanted new look. And luckily I found a lovely eye patch to match my bridesmaid’s dress. Cristine Taylor San Francisco, Calif.
I am sitting here in my house full of dogs and responding on behalf of my pack of Shar-Pei to your article on Botox. These happy, self-confident, extremely good-looking dogs would take it as a great personal favor if all the humans who lack a positive self-image would not compare themselves to dogs who are proud of the way they look. Sue Crowle Auburn, Pa.
The Tragedy of Sierra Leone
Assistant Regional DirectorChurch World Service
Dershowitz Responds
whenHarvard Law School
Lazy Summer Afternoons
Correction
In his May 20 column “Spend It Now, Mr. President,” Fareed Zakaria referred to the “late Teddy Kollek.” We are glad to report that Kollek is very much alive.
