A Kashmiri woman undergoes leech therapy, a practice now adopted in the U.S.

We know this already, some people will go out of their way to achieve a flawless and perfect look, even taking extreme measures to do so. It’s become so difficult to keep up with all the options out there. Botox, Restylane and skin tightening procedures have become such household names that more and more people use them for a more youthful appearance. But how common is it to use a hyberbaric oxygen chamber that sprays atomized moisturizers onto the skin, and leaves you with a plump and smooth appearance after spending anywhere between $100-$1000 per session?

Caviar, no longer a delicacy but also a face cream.

For some people, price is no object and they will try anything in order to discover that special elixir that will keep them looking young forever. I read that Demi Moore has used leech therapy in Austria. Apparently, once the leeches bite you they release peptides and proteins that improve circulation and prevent tissue death. Although leeches are nothing new in medicine really, they’ve been used for ages for the purpose of treating all sorts of ailments, and there are drugs that are made from leech saliva in order to help with certain medical conditions, when it comes to using them as a beauty treatment, eh, no thank you. Have you heard that some people use caviar as a mask for their face? It’s already packaged and sold as a skin cream for around $390 per bottle.

Another interesting treatment is the 24 Karat Gold Facemask, and those who can afford this swear by the cream’s antioxidant properties that lift and firm the skin. I tend to think that since my low-key treatments, which consist of home-made pineapple scrubs, or lemon and honey, or papaya and honey schmears have the same effect as the gold treatment (they all contain antioxidant properties just like gold but with the extra bonus of being edible), then I will gladly stick to those practices and not worry about the gold or caviar that are certainly beyond my budget range.

A strange, but affordable treatment, is the cat litter scrub—I bet that one box of cat litter will produce a lifetime of scrubs! The S-lift means smaller incisions, a faster recovery time, also making the procedure harder to detect. The knife—in any shape or form—is still considered, in my opinion, an extreme measure. True, plastic surgery, will always have the effect of altering your face, but it’s no guarantee that the results will be exactly how you’ve envisioned. Also, it’s a complete misconception to think that one could possibly look exactly as they did in their youth.

There are a plethora of peels and laser treatments out there these days that accommodate to every skin type and every face. Then there are women who adhere to more conservative measures in their attempts to look young, by simply shunning the sun. They never go to the beach or expose any body part to the sun, all part of their endeavor to prolong the look of youth. Somehow this too seems like a sort of extreme in my opinion.

At the end of the day everyone should do what suits them best; however, an interesting question to pose here is: how important is looking young to you?  What are you willing to do in order to achieve the youthful appearance that you desire?