Skin doctors spin doctors

This increased attention to the smallest details of the

skin might be called red-carpet dermatology. Red-carpet dermatology involves scalpel-free procedures that create more temporary and potentially

less detectable changes than a facelift, including Botox injections to paralyse the

muscles underlying wrinkles, filler injections to pad lips and facial creases, or lasers for brown spots and broken blood vessels.

And red-carpet dermatology permits entertainers with augmented faces to utter stock lines like, 8220;I only had Botox8221;

8220;Celebrities can8217;t afford to look like they have had something drastic done,8221; said Dr Jessica P. Wu, a dermatologist in Los Angeles.

Wu said she has been working seven days a week for the last month as well as making house calls. Indeed, the increasing popularity among celebrities of less invasive procedures has turned the idea of cosmetic treatments into a kind of guessing game played with equal gusto by red-carpet commentators and couch potatoes at home.

When Isaac Mizrahi reaches out, as he did last year at the Golden Globes, to squeeze the bosom of Scarlett Johansson 8212; a wordless gesture that instantly translated as 8220;Are those real?8221;8212; or Joan Rivers asks Sheryl Crow about the provenance of her teeth, the message conveyed is that the celebrity body has become a public document available for close reading and open to group interpretation.

8220;When all the smaller

procedures became available, more people started to do them,8221; explained Dr Gary P. Lask, a clinical professor of dermatology.

None of the doctors interviewed for this article would name their celebrity clients because such a disclosure could constitute a violation of doctor-patient confidentiality.

Wu said an actor8217;s grooming process might begin a month before an awards ceremony with Botox injections to the hands and armpits, treatments designed to reduce sweating.

8220;Botox for excess perspiration is a must-have for the red carpet, for actresses so they don8217;t stain their dresses and for actors who don8217;t want clammy handshakes,8221; Wu said, crinkling her nose.

She recommends that some celebrities undergo what she calls a 8220;Botox neck lift8221; about two weeks before an awards show. This involves injecting the jaw line and neck to relax muscles underneath the skin, she said.

8220;It temporarily gives you a sharper jaw line and a longer neck, which looks good if you are wearing a strapless gown or a low-cut dress,8221; Wu explained. 8220;And it8217;s not likely to land the actress on the cover of In Touch with a headline like: 8216;Did She Have Surgery?8217; 8220;

Up to one week before an event, Shamban said, she administers injections of temporary fillers like Restylane, a gel made out of hyaluronic acid, to pad lips and invert crow8217;s-feet. 8220;If skin is hydrated, it plumps up more and looks glowing,8221; Shamban said. 8220;It should last through a whole night of partying.

But just because some Oscar attendees have opted for the syringe instead of the scalpel doesn8217;t necessarily mean the interventions go undetected. Telltale signs include raised Vulcan eyebrows ladies, you know who you are, fleshy platypus snouts ditto, paralysed expressionless gazes gentlemen of celluloid, this means a few of you and overstuffed moon pie faces come one, come all.

As Jay Leno put it in a recent monologue: 8220;For the first half hour, I didn8217;t even realise I was watching the Golden Globes. I thought it was Extreme Makeover.8221;

8212;NATASHA SINGER / The New York Times