In our new century, the retro debate about the relative value of substance over image has gone by the wayside. Everyone - from artists to athletes, doctors to decorators, politicians to professors, investors to Internet entrepreneurs, stay-up-late moguls to stay-at-home moms - recognizes that being honorable, productive and successful and looking terrific are not mutually exclusive but rather perfectly complementary. 

Gone are the days when people who didn't like their appearance spent years in psychotherapy delving their self-esteem "issues" or lied about their attempts to look better. Today, people brag about their laser peels, liposuction and eyelifts. And why shouldn't they?

It's no fun to feel like a million dollars physically but look a decade or two older than your actual age, to be mistaken for your kid's grandparent, or to discover that the wolf whistle that turned your head was not intended for you. And it's downright demoralizing to get passed over for a job, be left out of a social scene, or look in the mirror each day hating this wrinkle, that blemish, or any number of cosmetic imperfections.

Happily, no one has to hate his or her appearance anymore! While the cosmetic laser surgery we wrote about several years ago in Beauty and the Beam elaborated on the "new and improved" techniques that were then available, technology has advanced in such quantum leaps that just about every procedure we described has improved.

Today, Instant Beauty is available to everyone who has no more than a lunch break to fix this, improve that, and get gorgeous!

For those who desire a quick fix - not just the "Ladies Who Lunch" but the men who lunch as well - there is now an unending list of lunchtime procedures that can be performed literally on your 12 to 1 p.m. lunch break and that involve few if any side effects, reasonable cost and immeasurable satisfaction.

But don't forget: while many lunchtime procedures can enhance your appearance and make you look better on the surface, these cosmetic tune-ups are not equivalent to a facelift that can correct sagging muscles and skin. However, a series of lunchtime procedures, each one leading to a subtle improvement, can cumulatively make a significant change in the texture of your skin and your overall appearance.

Instant Beauty: Getting Gorgeous on Your Lunch Break provides you with an entire "menu" of lunchtime cosmetic procedures and answers each and every question you have about what's hot, what's not; what works, what doesn't; what's fact, what's fiction; what's gimmicky, what's authentic; what's hype, what's the real thing - spelling out each procedure and its cost: what it entails, who is and is not a prime candidate, when you're ready for this or that procedure, where to seek "the best" practitioner and facility and how to ask all the right questions.

You may already be familiar with many of the procedures we describe, having read about or seen them mentioned in any number of magazine articles and TV programs. But often, what you read or see comes from the slick press releases from public-relations firms hired either by doctors or by the companies that manufacture this or that machine or product. Besides, being "mentioned" is not enough! Any elective aesthetic procedure involves not only inherent risks but also the very delicate and ego-driven issue of personal appearance. No person takes this lightly, and all people deserve to know everything possible about the choices they're making. We hope that Instant Beauty will be among your most valuable resources.

Here are several helpful and important resources.

American Academy of Dermatology
Web site: http://www.aad.org

American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
E-mail: aafprs@aol.com
Web: www.aafprs.org

American Academy of Micropigmentation
E-mail: zwerling@micropigmentation.orq
Web site: www.micropigmentation.org

American National Standards Institute
E-mail: ansionline@ansi.org
Web: www.ansi.org

American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery
Web: www.surgery.org

American Society of Plastic Surgeons
Web: www.plasticsurgery.org

Cosmetique ~ Dermatology, Laser & Plastic Surgery, L.L.P.
Website: www.cosmetiqemd.com

Food and Drug Administration Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition Office of Colors and Cosmetics
200 C Street SW Washington, D.C. 20204
Tel: 202-401-9725 (Contact if you experience a reaction you believe is related to a cosmetic product.)

International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery
E-mail: cachziger@aad.org
Web: http://www.ishrs.org

Lupus Foundation of America, Inc.
E-mail: info@lupus.org
Web: www.lupus.org/lupus

National Alopecia Areata Foundation
E-mail: info@naaf.org
Web: http://www.naaf.org

National Psoriasis Foundation
E-mail: getinfo@npfusa.org
Web: www.psoriasis.org

National Rosacea Society
E-mail: rosacea@aol.com
Web: www.rosacea.org

National Vitiligo Foundation, Inc.
E-mail: vitiligo@trimofran.org
Web site: http://www.nvfi.org

Skin Cancer Foundation
E-mail: info@skincancer.org
Web: www.skincancer.org