On the beauty bandwagon

All for symmetry
If the zebra prefers to mate with the one with symmetrical stripes and the peahen prefers a peacock with symmetrical feathers, it shouldn’t be that surprising that we find symmetrical faces and bodies more attractive than non-symmetrical ones.

Research shows that symmetric individuals have a higher mate-value because deep down, we associate symmetry with a strong immune system. Beauty is indicative of more robust genes, improving the likelihood that an individual’s offspring will survive.

But you don't need to be born with a symmetrical face and body to enjoy the upshots. Though 95% of us are born with some form asymmetry to our faces and bodies, there are surgical as well as non-invasive procedures galore to help one out.

Take Botox injections and fillers (the commonest being a mixture of hyaluronic acid and water) for instance. There are scores who rush to surgeons to correct asymmetrical eyebrows, lop-sided angles of the mouth and even the uneven angle of one's jaw near the ears. Botox injections and fillers are injected in unequal quantities or compositions on both sides of the face to ease the asymmetry.

In surgical procedures, face lifts are passé to correct asymmetry in a face. A thread lift is a new procedure for which the surgeon first administers a local anesthetic to numb the area, and then weave an actual thread under the skin. The ‘thread’ used is a medical suture but with barbs, which literally acts like a Velcro to hold the skin in place. Once under the skin, the thread hooks in and the surgeon pulls the skin into place. Do note that the 'velcro' gives way in three to five years. 

Beauty lies in the eyes
Excess folds of skin, fat and even muscle on the upper or lower eyelid, that your glossies urge you to blanch at, are corrected through a procedure called blepharoplasty. Local anaesthesia is injected close to eyelashes and the surgery has a recovery period of about 10 days. 

Still stuck at the hip 
A study reviewing 30 years (1957-1987) of Miss America contestants and Playboy centrefolds found that all had their waist-to-hip ratios (WHR) between 0.68 and 0.71. Multiple studies involving 20 different countries concluded that a WHR of 0.7 represents the ideal figure.

Research shows women with a WHR of 0.7 have optimum levels of estrogen, which increases their fertility and they're even found to have smarter children. Such women are less susceptible to diabetes, gallbladder disease, anxiety/depression and breast, uterine or ovarian cancers and to cardiovascular diseases. In other words, according to evolutionary psychologists, we have all descended from distant male ancestors who wisely or luckily and increasingly chose superior women (those with WHR of 0.7).

A bevy of fix-its can help one achieve this ratio artificially, to create the impression that you are evolution's ideal female. Ask Dr Lakshyajit Dhami, laser and cosmetic surgeon at Hinduja and Nanavati Hospitals. From commonplace procedures like liposuction to newer ones like the lower body lift, there's a lot one can do. In fact, liposuction, tummy tucks and buttock lifts are all done simultaneously to achieve the dream ratio. In a buttock lift, excess skin and tissue are removed, at times, accompanied by buttock implants.

The golden number
Here's another number that makes a difference in the way you look. Studies show that in vertical analysis of 'beautiful' faces, the golden ratio, 1.618:1 is seen in:
(a) The height of the face when compared to the height of the eyes.
(b) The distance from the hairline of the bottom of the nose and the bottom of the chin.
In addition, multiple other areas of the face, both in profile and frontal views, manifest this golden proportion. 

“It isn't that every not-so-attractive face can be 'fixed' if you apply the Golden Proportion to its features," says Dr Dhami. But yes, when he does get patients who simply want their features to be more proportionate, he does use the Golden Ratio to check whether the resultant computerised images fit the bill. The fix? Anything and everything from a nose job, pumping up lips with implants, chin implants (mentoplasty), face lifts (to remove excess fat and tighten muscle) and even forehead lifts. 

No leggy truth, this one 
Stilettos may help you get the height, but since they can't banish the spider veins or cellulite on legs and thighs, there are surgeries in store for you..

Sclerotherapy (spider vein therapy that involved injections that shrunk the veins) is old hat. Laser treatment now promises to restore the appearance of the skin on your legs and thighs and a thigh lift, they say, works wonders for cellulite.

Blame Demi Moore for making women wake up to the idea that extra skin around the knees is ugly. Thanks to her knee-jerk reaction, we know a cosmetic procedure, called the knee-lift that fixes 'saggy' knees, now exists.