Remember the song that contains the phrase "you can't always get what you want"? Well this may not hold true when it comes to looking better. It seems that it is possible to get almost anything, if you want it badly enough and are ready, willing and able to pay for it.

This premise must be true, because no matter where you look these days, there are folks in their fifties, sixties, and seventies who appear to be defying the ravages of age.

You only need to tune in to late night television, or one of those Hollywood gossip programs to realize that something is going on. How can Madonna look as good as she does? I'm sure she has a personal trainer, and watches every single thing she eats, but that can't be the whole story.

Then there's Carol Burnett. I saw her on television the other night and she looks amazing. This lady was born on April 26, 1933. That makes her 76. Perhaps she's had something done somewhere along those seventy six years.

Cindy Williams, the star of that great television series Laverne and Shirley is 62, a relative spring chicken. She looks amazing too. In her case it could be completely natural, after all sixty-two is not that old. Could it be all the smiling that these comedians have done over the years has given them a natural face lift?

In the world of politics there are numerous cases of candidates for this and that office suddenly appearing looking rested and wrinkle-free. John Kerry was said to have had his forehead wrinkles erased. Lately folks have been commenting that Hillary Clinton is looking fresh-faced and rested after her long and hard-fought presidential campaign.

Even Ronald Reagan was thought to have enhanced his natural good looks with non-surgical treatments. Some say he was one of the first to use the toxin clostridium botulinum experimentally in the 1950s.

Nowadays that stuff called clostridium botulinum is called Botox and it is the preferred way to erase wrinkles. Physicians over one hundred years ago first began thinking that the toxin could have therapeutic applications. In 1989 it received approval by the FDA for cosmetic use.

Botox works by blocking a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine which cases muscles to contract. A tiny injection is made directly into the lines and furrows of a person's face and forehead, plumping out the wrinkles.

Botox is certainly a quick and non-invasive method of negating the ravages of age compared to the surgical face-lift of old. Gone are the days when someone would have to become a recluse while healing from the cutting involved.

Today it's possible to take a couple of hours off work and return looking completely refreshed. Most people will not suspect that you've had anything done. It's that subtle, but so effective. Although the effects do wear off gradually, it gives the patient the option to have the procedure again, or to go natural again.