Dr. Shamban barely even gets her special goggles on before she notices a milia at the corner of my right eye. She explains the milia is essentially a tiny clogged oil gland. "It just needs to be popped open and drained," she says casually. "We can do it today."
I wince. She lost me at "popped open" and pretty much nailed the coffin shut with the word "drained." I have a thing with eyes. Great, it's been, like, 10 minutes and I already have to get something popped and drained.
But things start to turn around quickly. "Well, off the bat, you're beautiful," she says. "You've got great skin. And you'll never have to worry about pores, which is fantastic."
I am loving this appointment. I look in the handheld mirror I'm holding. "I do have great skin!"
"When I look at a face, I have something I call a signature feature, which is the most beautiful part of your face," explains Dr. Shamban. "It's very tied to who you are as a person. For you, your eyes are the most arresting."
I actually always thought my signature feature was my smile, but if someone's saying I have pretty eyes, I'll take it.
Photo 5/8
You Have Beautiful Eyes...That Need Restylane Injections
Dr. Shamban is showering me with compliments, and I'm starting to get a pretty inflated ego. But then with just one word, she pops my pretty bubble as if it were a milia on the corner of my eye.
The word is "filler."
"You mean, like an injection?" I ask. "Yes, you have gorgeous eyes, but I think a filler would look very nice on you. It's a Restylane injection under the eyes that fills in the hollowed out area, creating a fat pad." She continues, "You are missing a fat pad underneath your eyes, but that can be remedied with a filler."
I stare into the handheld mirror and examine my fat pad-less face. I try to puzzle out what I've just been told. "You have beautiful eyes...that really could use a Restylane injection or two." Not exactly the world's best pickup line, but she's right. Dr. Shamban has zeroed in on my dark circle insecurity. I would sooner walk out the door in my bra and underwear than not put on under eye concealer. But I always just thought I had dark circles; I didn't realize it was the thin skin under my eyes that was creating that illusion.
Now, I'm sure these injections would help my fat pad predicament, but it doesn't matter, because they're way, way out of my price range. I recently cut Caramel Macchiatos out of my budget, so there's no way I can afford $900 Restylane injections every 8 to 12 months. Dr. Shamban explains that my under eye circles are "background noise" and distract from my eyes, which is true. But paying for $900 injections would create their own form of background noise...as in, I wouldn't be able to afford rent.
So, the good news is that I have amazing pores! Yay! The bad news? I'm all hallowed out and need Restylane injections. I figure you gotta be prepared to win some and lose some when you walk into a dermatologist's office in Beverly Hills.
Photo 6/8
My Renowned Dermatologist-Approved Beauty Regime
So even though I've been fairly genetically lucky in the skin department (fat pad issues and dark circles aside), Dr. Shamban lays out a few clear steps for me to take to keep my skin in great shape. Her advice isn't earth-shattering, but it gives me a few tangible ways to try to keep my skin looking amazing:
• Always wear sunscreen. "If you want to maintain the nice skin you have now, sun protection is absolutely number one," says Dr. Shamban (aka my mother). She recommends that I always use SPF 50.
• Get my Vitamin D level checked. I actually just had my annual physical a few months back, and when I was tested for Vitamin D, my levels were normal. I used to be Vitamin D deficient (I was living in a veritable cave -- aka New York City). But it's a good reminder to stay on top of this.
• Use Retin A to stimulate my skin to make more collagen. In addition to Retin A every other night, Dr. Shamban suggests I put prescription MetroGel on any breakouts. "It's an antibiotic, but it's anti-inflammatory, which is perfect for your sensitive skin," explains Dr. Shamban.
• Wear minimal makeup. This one is hard, since I'm a beauty editor and am always testing new stuff. The number one product Dr. Shamban recommends for my particular skin is Dior Diorsnow UV Shield White Reveal BB Cream SPF 50. I haven't tried it before, but it's officially on my "must get now" list.
Photo 7/8
Worst Case, Best Case
After examining my skin, Dr. Shamban lays out my best case and worst case scenarios. The worst comes first. "Worst case, you get too much sun, you get some brown spots, rosacea, fine lines and wrinkles, and if you don't do anything under your eyes, the circles get very dark five years from now. That's your worst case."
OK, good to know! Now let's get to that best case, stat.
"Best case, you always have the skin you have now," she says.
That's it? I thought my best case scenario was, "You turn into Gwyneth Paltrow" or something on that level. But what Dr. Shamban seems to be getting at is that I've got it good now. I should take a moment to appreciate that fact, and then do what I can to keep it that way.
"You know, everything you do -- how you look, how you dress -- gives me an idea about who you are as a person. From your eyes, to your hair pulled back, to your pink-colored jeans, I get the sense that you're whimsical, but you're poised and smart," says Dr. Shamban.
The end of our meeting feels more like a Tarot card reading than it does a dermatologist appointment. I went from feeling like a gorgeous runway model to feeling like a hallowed out zombie in desperate need of fillers. But it's right now, at the end of our appointment, that I feel most myself.
"Now, let's pop that milia," says Dr. Shamban, leaning in and adjusting my chair.
Photo 8/8
Phone Call Freak Out
My appointment's over, and the first thing I do is call my mom for a quick recap. I want to give her the good news that I fulfilled her Christmas wish, but I also kinda want to freak her out and make her think I'm considering injections. I know she'll probably flip when she hears Dr. Shamban suggested fillers. She doesn't even like the idea of me getting a spray tan.
To give you an idea of how this all went down, I'll leave you with a brief transcript from my phone call with mom:
Me: Hi, mom. I'm just leaving the dermatologist appointment.
Mom: Hi, honey. How'd it go?
Me: Well, she was very informative and said I had great skin.
Mom: Yes, she is right, you do have great skin!
Me: And she really urged the importance of sunscreen to keep my skin looking this way for a long time.
Mom: Yes, yes, exactly! She is exactly right.
Me: Really, she seemed to agree with you completely on staying out of the sun and always wearing sunscreen.
Mom: Yes, she is so right. So, so right.
Me: And then she suggested I get Restylane injections underneath my eyes.
Mom: What?! WHAT!? Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
Me: Just a couple quick injections to diminish the appearance of my under eye circles.
Mom: Oh, no, no, no. So wrong. She is so wrong on that one. Injections!? WHAT?!
Me: It's OK mom, they're $900. I'm not getting any injections.
Mom: (Dramatic sigh of relief) Oh, thank God! For a second there I was thinking I just led you down the path of Botox.
Me: Restylane.
Mom: Whatever! So you're not getting any injections?
Me: No, I'm cool with what I got.
Follow Dr. Ava Shamban on Twitter: @DrAvaMD
"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.
