To underscore the importance of our facial appearance, all we have to do is look at the attention being paid to the face nowadays - especially by those who are just now leaving behind the bloom of youth.

No doubt, people have always sought to keep the face young.
Most potions and home remedies of the past, however, were largely ineffectual.

But in the last few decades there has been a strong surge in the output of new products breaking onto the scene: mud packs, moisturizers, facial peels, and the like. For the most part they had two things in common - they were of limited efficacy, and they all worked (where they worked at all) from the outside in.

One recent technique that especially accentuates the importance of appearance involved people having their own fat sucked out of one part of the body, and having it then injected into various parts of the face. The intent was to offset the wrinkles there by filling them in and pressing them out with the injected fat.

Most often, fat was taken from the buttocks because it was usually plentiful there, and it was easy to get at. The reason a person's own fat was used was so that there would be no problems with rejection. No doubt, more than one wag has quipped about the possibility of rejection for other than genetic reasons; namely, that perhaps areas of the face, particularly around the lips, might be inclined to reject material from the buttocks on aesthetic grounds!

Most of the recent skin treatments, however, have been of the standard sort that are rubbed onto the surface of the skin. Some of these topical applications - creams, lotions, etc. - show some ability in restoring the skin, but their effects are usually limited, showing up only on the outermost layer of the skin, at best removing only very fine lines. HGH, in contrast, works on the inner physiology to effect its repairs.