It's the day of my dermatologist appointment. I wake up feeling excited and nervous, like it's my Sweet 16 or something. I arrive at Dr. Shamban's beautiful Beverly Hills office, and the first thing I notice is a rack of wide-brimmed hats by the front door. It makes me think some patients walk out of here looking pretty "post-op" and want to shield their faces from the world. I shudder.
After I check in, the waiting room jitters start to take over, so I calm my nerves by helping myself to the complimentary dried fruit by the water cooler. I just keep thinking about those hats. I check my phone and notice an email from my mom. She's wishing me good luck at my appointment and has a couple quick questions she'd love the renowned dermatologist to answer:
"How much does a neck and eye lift cost? And what is the recovery time?"
As I'm typing, "You DO NOT need anything lifted!" my name is called.
Photo 0/8
20 is the New 50
I lean back in the patient's chair, and just as I notice a metal tray with too many shiny tools to count, there's a knock on the door and Dr. Shamban enters. Dr. Shamban -- not surprisingly -- has perfect skin. Entirely blemish-free, bright, and glowing. I think I must look like a haggard, weathered witch in comparison.
But Dr. Shamban's warm smile puts me at ease immediately. I explain to her that my mom was actually the one who, in a way, made me come here. She nods and agrees that my mom was right to encourage the importance of seeing a dermatologist, especially at 27.
"Your 20s are important because this is a time when you are really scouting out quality," she says. "You want a quality guy, you want quality friends, and you want quality habits when it comes to skin care." For a minute here I almost think my mom is somehow in cahoots with Dr. Shamban and is feeding her lines through some kind of hidden device. The doctor seems to echo my mom's advice almost verbatim, and I'm equal parts annoyed and intrigued.
"Fifty is the new 20," she says, and I nod, having heard this before. "But 20 is the new 50." Cue the record scratch. Um...what? "Twenty is the new 50 in that a lot of people are taking better care of themselves earlier, and they're taking precautions as if they were 50," explains Dr. Shamban. "The steps you take now build a solid foundation, and that's exactly what you want to do to stay looking younger longer."
I nod along. I want to look younger longer! I want to build a foundation! Now I'm antsy to get this show on the road. "OK, let's take a look at your skin" Dr. Shamban says as she puts on magnifying glasses, hands me a mirror, and adjusts the light to "Unflattering." I lean back and prepare myself for the worst.
"All I want for Christmas is for you to make an appointment with a renowned dermatologist."
As bizarre as this request sounds, I wasn't surprised when my mom called to tell me this last December. Most mothers ask their daughters for a pair of slippers, or maybe a cute scarf. But my mom? She's a special one.
My mom is so obsessed with skin care you'd think she was the First Lady running on a platform of sun damage awareness. Seriously, she makes Michelle Obama look lazy when it comes to her childhood obesity campaign. Mom sent me a box filled with almost a dozen types of sunscreen -- all with an SPF of 75 or higher -- when I told her I was moving to Los Angeles. The note read, "A few essentials for your move to Southern California."
So I wasn't exactly shocked when my mom insisted that my Christmas gift to her focus on my skin care regimen. "You live in Beverly Hills," she said. "There have to be some renowned dermatologists there. Please make an appointment with a really good one. That's all I want."
I rolled my eyes, and tried to suppress a whiny, "But, mommmm." I'm 27 and my mom is still making me do stuff. But what kind of awful daughter would I be to deny my mom this totally selfless Christmas present?
"OK, I'll make an appointment -- but that's not all you're getting. Expect some clothes or something from J.Crew," I say, defiantly. My mom laughed. "The dermatologist appointment is the only thing I want!" She paused and added, "Well, that, and maybe take your car in for an oil change. I feel like you haven't done that in a while."
She's not joking.
Even though I acted totally put out by my mom's request, it's actually not that hard to make an appointment with an excellent derm. I am a beauty editor, and I live in the land of renowned dermatologists. I figure if I'm going to do this, I may as well do it up right. It is my mom's Christmas present, after all. So I make an appointment with the most renowned dermatologist I can think of,
Dr. Ava Shamban, who is the expert dermatologist from "Extreme Makeover" and author of "Heal Your Skin".
After I book my appointment, I actually start to get kind of excited. My mom is right; I haven't seen a dermatologist in a while, and I probably should. I actually like my skin, and it is the largest organ in my body (a fact that's always freaked me out), so I want to keep it looking good for as long as possible. I've heard amazing things about Dr. Shamban, and I feel like I've won the skin care lottery by scoring an appointment with her.
OK, so essentially what I'm dancing around here is...maybe my mom was right.
