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Botox On Your Lunch Break
By
Jen Carlson
Published Jun 13, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Jun 13, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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It's beginning to look a lot like...LA. The NY Sun reports on a new walk-in "Botox store" offering impatient patients a chance to take a dip in the artificial fountain of youth during their lunch break.
While botox injections typically only take ten minutes or so, patients usually have to make appointments and wait for doctors. However, plastic surgeons Michael Rose and Andrew Elkwood, who are behind this quickie shop, only offer this one fast fix and are able to get patients in and out in a fraction of the time. Their concept, incidentally, is called SmoothMed, of which they told the Times last month, “People just need to be educated that it’s fast, it’s cheap and it’s not intimidating.” Since each treatment will last about a maximum of four months, the doctors (who call it the "female yuppie heroin") can count on return customers. Dr. Rose said. “It’s like electricity: If you want to keep it on, you have to keep paying.”
A patient’s first visit to SmoothMed should take about 30 minutes or less, and follow-up appointments will take 15 minutes or less. Want to know what to expect should you decide to walk through the doors and closer to an eternally expressionless face? The Times has a rundown:
First-time patients will have a consultation with a doctor who takes their medical history, examines their faces and explains the benefits and risks of Botox. Patients will also have their faces photographed and, if appropriate, receive a pregnancy test, he said.
Doctors will use a syringe gun to control the amount of each injection, Dr. Elkwood said. He added that he and Dr. Rose have developed their own computerized system; it will impose a grid over a patient’s photograph and record the exact locations and amounts of the Botox injections so that it is easy for a doctor at Smoothmed to replicate the treatment on a patient’s subsequent visits.
SmoothMed is located on East 59th Street, right near Bloomie's, so it's sure to get a lot of regular business types, women of leisure and curious tourists.
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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