Book excerpt: Most people no longer have the time or patience to experiment with avocado and cucumber potions, meditative techniques that promise "inner beauty" or lengthy surgeries that require time off from work. The good news is that medicine has caught up to our needs. Today instant beauty is available to everyone who has no more than a lunch break to fix this, to alter that and get the looks they've always wanted. How is this possible? - Big procedures have gotten smaller. Lasers target problem areas with amazing precision, and endoscopic surgery performed through a microscopic incision result in less pain and scarring and much quicker recovery. - More than half of all cosmetic procedures today are performed in a doctor's office instead of the hospital, resulting in more comfort, convenience and privacy, as well as less risk of infection - Anesthesia is today lighter; many procedures require no anesthesia at all, while others require only local numbing, resulting in much greater safety. Instant Beauty provides step-by-step methods for evaluating one's needs and for seeking the most qualified practitioner and the safest facility. It spells out each procedure - what it entails, who is and is not a prime candidate, and how much it costs.