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This morning on our continuing series FOREVER YOUNG: “A Guide to Life After 50, Defensive Aging.” A study on identical twins recently published in the Annals of Plastic Surgery showed that lifestyle choices and environment can play a role in the rate at which we age, and even slow the aging process. Leading New York City plastic surgeon Dr. Darrick E. Antell is the author of the study. Doctor, good to see you.

DARRICK ANTELL (Plastic Surgeon): Thank you.

MATT LAUER: Let’s talk about the premise her, and it sounds pretty obvious. If we’re talking about identical twins, then we’re talking about people with identical genes, and therefore….

ANTELL: Therefore they should age exactly the same because they’re genetically alike. But I believe that people have highly overrated the influence of genes on the aging process. And a really important part of this study is that it proves that lifestyle choices very much affect the rate at which you age.

MATT LAUER: So this is really the nature vs. nurture debate, and you’re saying the way we nurture ourselves in terms of our lifestyle has the greatest impact?

ANTELL: Exactly.

MATT LAUER: Where did you find your twins for the study?

ANTELL: We went to Twinsburg. Twinsburg, Ohio, has a large festival every year where thousands of twins come, and we took hundreds of photographs at that festival.

MATT LAUER: So now, what are the factors you looked at in terms of lifestyle that would impact the way we age? And I think you’re talking more about the physical signs of aging, as opposed to how we feel?

ANTELL: Yes, the physical signs. And the most important factors appear to be sun exposure, smoking, stress, and other contributing factors would be healthy lifestyle choices like exercise, eating well, medical problems, stuff like that.

MATT LAUER: Well, let’s take a look at some of the pictures we have on the set. We want to tell people at home, these are not before and after pictures.

ANTELL: Correct.

MATT LAUER: And this one talks about the effects of the sun. Tell me what we have here.

ANTELL: The twin on the left led a very carefree lifestyle. She was out in the sun all the time, lived in Southeast Asia, and then California. If you look at her skin, it’s just coarser, there are many more wrinkles, they are deeper. There are wrinkles around the eye, there’s discoloration of her skin. And Matt, there are even sunspots on her nose. There’s loose skin around her neck. Compared to her sister, who looks much better. Now they’re exactly the same age, and she has some wrinkles, but they’re just not as deep, and the skin is better quality.

MATT LAUER: In terms of their lifestyle, though, was everything else the same?

ANTELL: Everything else was pretty much the same, although….

MATT LAUER: Stress and smoking things like that?

ANTELL: There are a couple of minor things, but we felt that sun exposure was really the main contributing factor here.

MATT LAUER: All right, let’s back up a second here, because our next set of identical twins show us the effect of smoking and tell us what we have here.

ANTELL: Exactly. This set, they both lived in the same midwestern area, so we did not feel that smoking was the contributing factor. Rather, the twin on the left….

MATT LAUER: Not sun, you mean.

ANTELL: Correct, not sun. The twin on the left smoked for 30 years, whereas the twin on the right never smoked. So if you look at the lines on the forehead over here, and the vertical line here, lines around the eye and the loose skin along the neck is much different than on her twin sister, where it’s much smoother.

MATT LAUER: And would that hold true, because from what I’ve read, smoking affects the elasticity in the skin.

ANTELL: Well, actually, the smoking shrinks all the capillaries, the little blood vessels that feed the skin, so it’s not getting proper nourishment. The same thing happens with stress.

MATT LAUER: All right, let’s take a look at stress right here. Again, not a before and after picture, we have identical twins here. Tell me what we should look for.

ANTELL: Now we’ve heard of people that, quote, “went gray overnight” with a stressful event, because it clamps down all the blood vessels. And some other subtle changes that you see are the lines in the forehead, lines between the eyebrows, lines on the cheek, and an overall change in the quality of aging, compared to her sister, her twin sister.

MATT LAUER: Now are you talking about an overall stress, the lifestyle, or someone who may have had a stressful event?

ANTELL: They both had children, they both lived in the same midwestern environment, but the twin on the left had gone through a difficult divorce, and then we thought that was a contributing stressful factor in her life.

MATT LAUER: You also went out and then you conducted face-lifts on twins. What did you find there?

ANTELL: Well, interestingly, we’ve at this point done more facelifts than anyone else in the World on identical twins. We did different face-lifts on them. We’re studying the face-lift operations, so that we could bring them back into balance, but so that we could also examine the different techniques of face-lift surgery. Now this is a before and after….

MATT LAUER: This is the same person here.

ANTELL: Correct. It’s the same person, and if you look at the before, you see the loose skin that she has along the neck….

MATT LAUER: Back up a little further. There we go.

ANTELL: …and along the jaw line, she has a jowl formed over her. And in the post-operative picture, you see how….

MATT LAUER: Right.

ANTELL: …how much cleaner it is over here, how the jaw line is clean and the neck is much cleaner.

MATT LAUER: Based on your studies with these identical twins, you’ve come up with ways that we can be defensive in our lifestyle in terms of aging. And so, what are the obvious answers to that?

ANTELL: Well, it’s all the things that mom always told you. You should avoid direct sunlight, you should avoid smoking. You should eat a good diet, get regular exercise, and if necessary, later on in life consider plastic surgery to re-balance things.

MATT LAUER: I would imagine when you showed these identical twins the difference in their faces, based on their level of exposure to the sun and smoking and stress, the one who didn’t look as good probably came to you real quickly.

ANTELL: Well, they were – they were never really as aware of it, because they only see each other one at a time because they’re twins. It’s only us that sees them as twins.

MATT LAUER: Right, that sees them side by side.

ANTELL: So when we showed them the pictures, it was very revealing.

MATT LAUER: Dr. Darrick Antell, thanks very much. We appreciate it.

ANTELL: Thank you.

KATIE COURIC: Next up, what you should know before choosing a plastic surgeon. But first…this is TODAY on NBC.

MATT LAUER, co-host: This morning on our continuing series, FOREVER YOUNG: A GUIDE TO LIFE AFTER 50, how to pick a plastic surgeon. In 1996, almost a million cosmetic surgery procedures were performed. That’s an increase of more than 50% over the past five years. Dr. Darrick Antell, a board-certified plastic surgeon in New York City, has a rundown of things you should know before having plastic surgery.

Dr. Antell, good morning. Welcome back.

DARRICK ANTELL (Plastic Surgeon): Good morning. Thank you.

MATT LAUER: This is-this is nip and tuck to some people. But let’s remember, this is surgery. So, the decision’s important.

ANTELL: Absolutely. You can’t forget that it’s surgery, and there are potential complications. That’s why it’s critical that you invest time to pick a surgeon properly. Some people spend more time picking a toaster oven than they do their surgeon.

MATT LAUER: So what do you do to get information about the different doctors who are available in your area?

ANTELL: Well, I get asked that question a lot because New York City is a mecca for this type of surgery. And I recommend that people start developing a list of potential candidates. See if the same names keep coming up more than once. Ask your personal physician, ask you friends. I would ask hospital personnel. And most importantly, I would check if the doctor has privileges to do the operation you’re interested in in a hospital environment.

MATT LAUER: That means the doctor has been through some kind of peer review at that hospital.

ANTELL: Yes.

MATT LAUER: So-so you’re getting a fairly qualified or very qualified doctor?

ANTELL: Absolutely. Because today, many of these operations are done outside the hospital. And there’s less peer review. So, if the doctor has privileges to do it in a hospital environment, you can feel comfortable that he’s undergone that peer review.

MATT LAUER: Two words we hear an awful lot about when talking about plastic surgery, board-certified. How important?

ANTELL: Board certification is very important. But it’s become kind of a buzz word. Consumers know it, but they don’t really understand all the different boards. It’s very confusing. What you want to look for is board certification in plastic surgery, and “in” is the key word.

MATT LAUER: So, in other words, you’re saying a doctor could be board-certified but not in the area you need him or her to be.

ANTELL: Exactly. And today, unfortunately, in this era of commercialization of medicine, many people advertise. And they’ll put board-certified in the ad, but not indicate what specialty they’re board certified in. So you want to check what specialty they’re board-certified in. (http://www.CERTIFIEDDOCTOR.ORG)

MATT LAUER: And an easy way to find out about board certification, we have a phone number we want to put up right now. (1-800-776-2378)

ANTELL: Yes. It’s the American Board of Medical Specialties. And they are the only board recognized by the American Medical Association to certify people in over 24 medical specialties, one of which is plastic surgery.

MATT LAUER: What about when someone is having a procedure done, say a nose surgery, but it’s for more than a cosmetic reason – it’s because they have polyps or breathing problems or sinus problems. Do you look for different kind of doctor?

ANTELL: Well, you may. An ear-nose-throat doctor would be board-certified in otolaryngology. And that’s what the board certification would come up as. What we do in my practice is, if there’s a problem with the breathing, I may work in conjunction with the ENT doctor, where I’ll do the cosmetic part for the external portion.

MATT LAUER: Right.

ANTELL: …and the same operation, they can correct the internal parts.

MATT LAUER: So, would you give someone a referral, then, for the other doctor as well?

ANTELL: Yes. Absolutely. And we have a phone number, by the way, for that also.

If you’re looking for a referral on a surgeon, this is a different number than before 1 (800) 635-0635. Now, once you’ve narrowed down the number of doctors in your area….

ANTELL: Uh-huh.

MATT LAUER: You should go for a consultation. Very important. But what do you do at that consultation?

ANTELL: Well, during the consultation, I would start by looking at the office, make sure it’s clean, friendly. Make sure you have some rapport with the surgeon. I would ask about potential risks. I would ask if he does the surgery himself. Very important question.

MATT LAUER: Also it’s important to note how much time the doctor’s willing to spend with you during the consultation. You don’t want someone who’s going to run in, look and go, and run out.

ANTELL: I would ask about costs. I think cost needs to be gone over in great detail. And this is an area where it pays to pay retail.

MATT LAUER: You see on billboards and you see on television doctors who advertise that they use this computer system to show the patient what she or he might look like after surgery. You, though, tell a patient to stand in front of a mirror, and you actually use you hands. Why?

ANTELL: I do that for a couple of reasons. I believe it’s more accurate. I think the computer is misleading. It doesn’t account for swelling. But I need to feel their skin. And by feeling the texture of their skin, if I’m going to be doing a face-lift, it may modify the techniques that I’ll use to get the best possible result.

MATT LAUER: So is this computer imaging a gimmick?

ANTELL: I believe that it’s a gimmick. I think there’s no way you can guarantee that result.

MATT LAUER: Quickly, what’s the most typical side effect from plastic surgery that people should know about?

ANTELL: I would say a hematoma is one of the most common. It’s a collection of blood, and in most cases, it’s small and goes away on its own.

MATT LAUER: Dr. Darrick Antell, great information.

ANTELL: Thank you.

Jay Leno, host:

You know, I mentioned that article about the chin implant. Give — here this is Sunday’s — I want to show you this, Sunday’s New York Post. There you go — very — Sunday’s New York Post. (Visual of Jay holding up Sunday’s edition of the New York Post) Somebody’s New York Post.

Now, anyway, it’s about this plastic surgeon — Where is it? Ah, here he is. Dr. — Dr. Darrick Antell. This is the guy that does the chin implants. And he says one of the most popular cosmetic surgery procedures is to get these chin implants. Let me show you there. See, the guy there — there you go — there’s — see the before picture, see the after picture. He says a lot of men are nervous about losing their jobs and feel a new chin will give them a stronger, more forceful appearance.

He goes on to say men request celebrity chins, like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Michael Douglas. And I’m thinking, well, I’m kind of reading, going, Oh, heh, look at that. There’s a celebrity — ’til I come to this sentence here. Mm-hmm. Not all men desire celebrity chins. Look at this, here. Can you get a shot of — can you see that, Tess?

Look at that, it says, A lot of men ask, you aren’t going to make me look like Jay Leno, are you? You know?

So I was curious to what this doctor — how he would respond. So I figured we’d call him up. My staff contacted him earlier, he’s waiting at this number. Here’s his number right here. Let’s give him a call. You’re not going to make me look like Jay Leno, are you? No-chin geek! Let’s see, is it ringing? Oh, it’s ringing. Here we go.

Hello? (Phone rings) Oh!

Dr. Darrick Antell: Hello 850 Park.

Leno: Is this Dr. Antell?

Antell: Yes, it is, Jay.

Leno: Oh. How are you, sir?

Antell: Very well.

Leno: Nice to see you. Expecting my call?

Antell: Yes. I was.

Leno: Now, I want to ask you about this. So people come in they want to look like who? They want to look like Schwarzenegger, that’s a big one, huh?

Antell: Oh, yeah, Schwarzenegger, Michael Douglas…

Leno: Mm-hmm.

Antell: … Brad Pit.

Leno: Yeah. Yeah. And — and has anyone ever asked to come in and look like me?

Antell: That’s a very special chin.

Leno: Really? Well, how is my chin? Is it pretty good.

Antell: Well, I think it works for you, Jay. But, in terms of the classical measurements, most people would say it’s a little bit on the overly-large size.

Leno: Overly-large size. Well, you know what they say, Big chin, you know. Yeah. Well, let me ask you. I mean, are there–are there chin sizes like a 38DD, that kind of thing?

Antell: Well, there are, actually. It doesn’t go quite that way.

Leno: Yeah.

Antell: But we try to fit it to the rest of the patient’s face so that it brings it into balance.

Leno: Now what do you do? If I come in, do you glue a fake chin on a guy and he looks in the mirror? Is that how it works?

Antell: Well, it — it — actually, what we do is we make a very small incision, usually under the chin.

Leno: Uh-huh.

Antell: And you can put in sort of a rubbery material that makes the chin look a little larger. and if it’s too large, you can actually reduce the size, too.

Leno: Now, if it’s sunny out, doesn’t that melt all over the guys’s face?

Antell: No. It actually knits in there, scar tissue heals around it and it stays put.

Leno: And how about chin reductions? Have you done those?

Antell: Certainly have.

Leno: Really?

Antell: Yes.

Leno: We have a picture of me. Look at this picture of me with a chin reduction. All right, there I am, OK, show me with the reduction. Now that looks stupid. It looks ridiculous. All right. Now do you have a picture of me in your office, am I like, the, You don’t want to wind up like this, kind of thing?

Antell: No. I wouldn’t do that to you.

Leno: Yeah, I’m sure. All right. Well, thank you, Doctor.

Antell: Thank you.

Leno: Thank you. Nice talking to you.

Welcome back, everyone. One business that’s benefited from the booming economy is plastic surgery, and new treatments with quick recoveries are fueling the demand. Dr. Darrick Antell is a leading New York plastic surgeon, and he’s got some advice on what to look for if you’re thinking about a nip and tuck. Dr. Antell, good morning. Thanks for joining us.

Dr. Darrick Antell (New York Plastic Surgeon): Good morning.

Cannon: What do you look for if you want to get something done in terms of the plastic surgeon?

Dr. Antell: The most critical part of getting a good result from plastic surgery is the surgeon that you choose. Some people spend very little time in picking a doctor. They may spend more time buying a toaster oven. You want to check the credentials of the doctor. You want to look for board certification in plastic surgery.

Cannon: Is that a dangerous thing if you go to someone who’s not?

Dr. Antell: Well, it may mean that you may have someone performing surgery who is a pulmonologist, a dermatologist, an anesthesiologist, any of a number of specialties that are not board certified specifically in plastic surgery.

Cannon: People are going in and they’re getting, what predominantly? The neck? The eyes? The forehead? What?

Dr. Antell: Well, in the last two years, you can almost track the number of procedures the same as the stock market. I would say that the numbers — statistics have come out. And the numbers of eyelid operations have gone up about 60 percent in the last two years. The numbers of face-lifts are up almost 40% in the last two years.

Cannon: Do you attribute this to not only the booming economy, but boomers, like myself, are coming — getting to a certain point where they’re looking in the mirror and saying, “Need a little nip and tuck?”

Dr. Antell: Absolutely. We’re seeing people at younger ages having smaller procedures. Some people think of it as maintenance, almost part of good hygiene. They’ll come in at an earlier age, have smaller procedures done.

Cannon: Let’s go to some photos.

Dr. Antell: Yes.

Cannon: And then — so what happens? This is the after. Clearly a big difference in the neck area. It has been lifted, not the sag there. What happens there?

Dr. Antell: In that — in that operation, the skin is lifted, but also the underlying tissues are readjusted. I compare it to a carpet and a carpet pad. You need to lift up the carpet pad to get the wrinkle out, some of the fullness along the jawline. The incisions are all hidden around the ear area and in the hair.

Cannon: How long to recover from that kind of…

Dr. Antell: Most people look presentable in two weeks. And it takes three weeks before it really settles in. Three months before you forget about it.

Cannon: So if anybody says you’re going to heal quicker than that, then they’re not telling you the truth.

Dr. Antell: That’s true. Or they’re not doing the full operation.

Cannon: OK. That was a neck lift. What about an eye peel? Let’s look at before and after there.

Dr. Antell: Sure. Eyelid surgery is one of the most important operations we do at an early age. This lady had surgery on her upper eyelids, as well as her lower eyelids. But men have this procedure very commonly, as well.

Cannon: This gets — gets rid of the crow’s feet, and it looks even underneath the eyebrow, also, it, like, straightens out.

Dr. Antell: On her upper eyelid she has excess full tissue. It makes her look tired. A little puffiness on the lower eyelid. And she also had a resurfacing of her lower eyelids to smooth out some of the fine wrinkles.

Cannon: So how long does it take to recover from this? You said the neck lift was about three weeks. And for the eyes?

Dr. Antell: About two weeks for the eyes. Most people return to work clearly in two weeks, some as often as one week to 10 days.

Cannon: What about lip peels?

Dr. Antell: Lip peels are very common, particularly in women. On the upper lip, they’ll get vertical lines from smoking or just from puckering their lips. And we treat that with either a peel or a dermabrasion.

Cannon: So we talked about the — all of these look really good. Impressive.

Dr. Antell: Thank you.

Cannon: And it doesn’t really take that long. Two, three, four weeks and you can go back. How much does it cost, on average, for, say, like a neck/face lift?

Dr. Antell: The costs vary depending on the level of expertise of the surgeon. Our fee for a face and neck lift is $15,000. Eyelid surgery is $6000. And those are exclusive of the operating room and anesthesia fees.

Cannon: And the — lip peel would be?

Dr. Antell: A lip peel is in the range of $2500.

Cannon: Yeah.

Dr. Antell: To maybe $3500. But this is an important area in life where it’s an investment in your future. It’s an area in life where it pays to pay retail.

Cannon: All right. Dr. Antell, thank you very much for joining us.

Dr. Antell: Thank you.

Cannon: Appreciate it.

Dr. IAN SMITH reporting: And in the next installment of our plastic surgery series — facelifts. But not the kind that pulls your face back and makes you look like you’re stuck in a wind tunnel — this surgery hides the scars. And, it gives the face a more natural appearance.

(Visual of doctor examining patient)

Final examinations of Nancy, before she undergoes her facelift.

NANCY (Patient): I want my chinline, here, to look better. Hopefully to smooth out the skin, and also the neck is very important, as you get older. I want the puckers here to go away.

SMITH: New York plastic surgeon Dr. Darrick Antell says these are the two most common areas of concern, with people contemplating a facelift. And one of the hottest trends in fixing these problem areas, is something called the short scar facelift.

Dr. DARRICK ANTELL (Plastic Surgeon): Well, the shorter incision is a real plus for the patient. It’s much less visible, it’s very ponytail-friendly, if they like to wear their hair back. It minimizes any incision behind the ear, sometimes completely eliminating the incision altogether.

SMITH: In the older facelift, the incision typically ran down the hairline, underneath and then behind the ear, stretching back behind the head. But now doctors eliminate the extended cut behind the ear, either keeping it mostly along the front hairline, or even extending it up in front, depending on the shape of the hairline. But in both cases, eliminating that behind-the-ear scar. And doctors can deliver a more natural result.

Dr. ANTELL: In the early operations, people just tended to pull the skin back, and it tended to give them that wind-tunnel look. By working on the deeper layers, you can reposition the underlying fat, and the actual muscles, so that everything comes up and looks much more natural. And it takes tension off of the skin.

SMITH: Like many other procedures, the short-scar surgery can be performed right in the doctor’s office. Same sterilization techniques, same safety precautions of bigger hospital operating rooms. Many patients in fact, feel more comfortable and can be monitored more closely without distractions.

The key, says Nancy, is doing your homework first, to find the best doctor.

NANCY: You want to go to the best possible one you can. You have only one face. You can scrimp on other things, you know, go to thrift shops. But not this doctor.

SMITH: Now, Nancy’s surgery lasted no more than a couple of hours. After these procedures, the face will be swollen and a little bruised. But within about 10 to 14 days, most people will start to show off their new look. And remember, these cosmetic procedures are rarely, if ever, covered by health insurance. So make sure you save up, before signing up. Of course, for more information on our series, just log on to www.wnbc.com/tiny, for TODAY IN NEW YORK.

JANE HANSON, co-anchor: So it’s two weeks, 10 to 14 days, versus the regular facelift is, what, a month or more?

SMITH: Well, it’s about three weeks. It’s a little faster, because you’re doing less. But the real beauty of this is that it actually works underneath the layers of the skin. So the wind-tunnel we talk about, people are like, ahh! (Demonstrates, holding skin back on his face) So if you take the inner layer, it all goes up very nicely.

CAMPBELL BROWN, co-host:

And we are back. This morning on TODAY’S STYLE, a makeover three times. Fifty-seven-year-old identical triplets were inspired by a story that they saw right here on the TODAY show, so they looked into getting plastic surgery, and they decided to go for it, all for one, one for all.

The Mattock triplets were born in 1949 in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

GEORGETTE: Yes, we’re identical.

BROWN: There’s Gerie, a library program coordinator.

GAIL: Gerie’s a very hard worker, she’s–we’re all a little compulsive.

BROWN: Gail, a librarian.

GEORGETTE: Gail is a very undemanding person. I can never remember a time when she really asked for anything for herself.

BROWN: And Georgette, a teacher.

GERIE: Georgette is probably, if you’re comparing us, probably the most opinionated, and has very decisive ideas about things.

BROWN: And it was Georgette who called plastic surgeon Dr. Darrick Antell, after seeing him on the TODAY show in March.

GAIL: She actually came up with the idea.

BROWN: And together, all three sisters decided to go under the knife.

GAIL: I’m hoping to have less of this here.

GEORGETTE: I’m hoping to have smoother skin, get rid of some of the sag.

GERIE: I’m hoping to kind of push the click back a little bit, maybe look a few years younger.

BROWN: They had the surgery in May, three face lifts and three upper eye lifts.

Unidentified Sister #1: I would not do this by myself.

Unidentified Sister #2: I probably would do it on my own, although it makes it a lot more fun to have somebody doing it with you.

GERIE: It was OK?

Unidentified Sister #3: Piece of cake.

BROWN: Three sisters, three different personalities, on one great big adventure.

GAIL: I think it’s a great adventure, and I think it’s elective surgery, and I elect to have it.

BROWN: And the adventure continues. Dr. Darrick Antell is the New York City plastic surgeon affiliated with Lenox Hill Hospital, who worked on the triplets. And when they were feeling up to it, we sent the Mattock triplets to Louis Licari salon here in New York City to get their hair done. And Rebecca Dolgin is the beauty and fashion director of All You magazine. She took them shopping.

So the moment has arrived. First, we do want to take a look at the before pictures of the triplets. This is before the surgery, before their makeovers. And now, drum roll please, Georgette, Gerie, Gail, come on out. Let’s see you. Show America the new you.

Oh, wow, ladies, you look fantastic. Everybody feel great?

GEORGETTE: Thank you.

GERIE: I feel wonderful.

GEORGETTE: Wonderful.

GAIL: We feel wonderful, it’s fabulous.

BROWN: We’re going to–we’re going to talk about your take on sort of the makeover. But first, Dr. Antell, let me start with you. What they wanted to go for was obviously a younger, fresher look. As we show the before pictures, before and after comparisons, tell us about the surgery, what you did, exactly.

Dr. DARRICK ANTELL: Well, Campbell, I’ve always believed that plastic surgery should whisper and not scream.

BROWN: Right.

Dr. ANTELL: And we’re doing on–ongoing studies on identical twins where we’ve been able to do a much smaller incision than we previously could do.

BROWN: So the idea is to make it more subtle, not so obvious.

Dr. ANTELL: Yes. Not only make it more subtle, but safety. These operations today are done under mostly local anesthesia, with only mild sedation.

BROWN: So give us an example if you can. I want to throw the before pictures back up for a second.

Dr. ANTELL: Sure.

BROWN: And just show us where you made an incision with one of the women, and what exactly you were going for.

Dr. ANTELL: Well, in Georgette, on the far left, and also on Gerie we used a much shorter incision. And on Gail we used a more traditional incision. But their neckline is much cleaner on all three of them, their upper eyelids are much much cleaner, and the recovery is potentially shorter with the shorter incision.

BROWN: Well, let me ask you ladies, and Georgette, maybe you can speak for the group. How long did it actually take you to recover from the process?

GEORGETTE: Actually, the surgery for me was very, very easy. I’m the one who never took so much as a Tylenol.

BROWN: Really?

GEORGETTE: For pain. I was very bruised in a sense of being black and blue, but there was no pain.

BROWN: But Ger–pain, Gerie, for you guys at all?

GAIL: A little bit.

GERIE: Tiny bit, just a little bit, very minimal, though. Very…

BROWN: Gail, no pain?

GAIL: No pain, it was amazing. I had a little swelling, a little discoloration, no pain.

BROWN: Things have changed.

GEORGETTE: When I woke up, there was no nausea, no headache, and that’s due to the local anesthetic, I think, so.

BROWN: Yeah. And let me turn to Louis, now, because when you got to feeling a little better, Louis took over.

Mr. LOUIS LICARI: Right.

BROWN: And your goal here was to, again, younger, fresher, get the gray out, right?

Mr. LICARI: Younger, fresher, and this is the best time. If you’re going to change your look, do it now, right when you’re going forward, to be tweaked, a little face work, because it’ll throw all your friends off. They’ll say, `Wow, you look great with that new haircut and hair color.’ But they’ll never guess that you had a little…

BROWN: OK, so they think it’s the hair color, and they don’t notice the surgery.

Mr. LICARI: The really big change.

BROWN: Ah, good thinking. Good thinking.

Mr. LICARI: Yeah. So you know, it’s a great time to make yourself over.

BROWN: And this is a modification basically with each of them that you did on the same haircut, right?

Mr. LICARI: Right. They all had basically the same haircuts, but what we did here is we played with the way that the hair falls. You see on Georgette, we gave her a full bang. To–she has a long, oval face, and we wanted to make it more oval.

BROWN: Right.

Mr. LICARI: We did the same thing all the way through, except for on Gerie. We gave her her hair parted off to the side, and on Gail, even though her hair’s up, it’s tousled. So it cuts down on the size of her forehead.

BROWN: I love it. And you can, I guess, all three wear your hair different ways, too, it’s really fun and flexible.

Mr. LICARI: Right.

BROWN: And Rebecca, let me turn to you and tell us about their looks.

Ms. REBECCA DOLGIN: Sure, absolutely.

BROWN: You gave them…

Ms. DOLGIN: We wanted…

BROWN: …the clothing maker.

Ms. DOLGIN: Exactly. We wanted to give them a whole new wardrobe, and you can really do this without spending a lot of money. Each one of these outfits range just from 50 to $150, head to toe, including shoes. So with Georgette, we wanted to give her a pop of color, really show of her bright complexion, and then we put her in a pair of white pants. It adds polish, makes her look great. They have a little bit of lycra so there’s some stretch in them, and I think she just looks fantastic.

BROWN: OK. So ladies, what’s on the agenda tonight? Big plans? Are we going clubbing?

GERIE: We’re going to go to a show with my family tonight, so.

BROWN: Oh, you look fantastic, you really do.

Dr. ANTELL: Don’t they.

BROWN: Hey, congrats to all of you, well done.

Mr. LICARI: Well, thank you, Enid…(unintelligible).

BROWN: And enjoy, enjoy the holiday weekend.

GEORGETTE: We will, we will, thank you.

GERIE: We will.

GAIL: Yes, right. Thank you.

BROWN: Good to have you all here.

Click here to read the triplets blog about their face lift surgery.

HEADLINE: Dr. Darrick Antell, plastic surgeon at Lenox Hill Hospital, discuss how identical twins age differently; Twins model surgeries

ANCHORS: CAMPBELL BROWN

CAMPBELL BROWN, co-host:Have you ever wondered why some people look older than their years, while others seem to have found the fountain of youth? Well, some of it is genetics, but it all depends on your lifestyle, how much stress you endure, how much time you spend in the sun. And studies on identical twins prove that that’s true by showing one twin aging differently from the other. And New York plastic surgeon Dr. Derek Antell has performed more facelifts on identical twins than anyone else in the world. And he’s here, along with three sets of identical twins: Gay Block and Gwyn Sirota, Marjorie Mel and Jane Wharton, June Benedict and Joan Buckley.

And good morning to everybody. Welcome.

Ms. GAY BLOCK: Good morning.

Ms. GWYN SIROTA: Good morning.

Ms. MARJORIE MEL: Good morning.

Ms. JANE WHARTON: Good morning.

Ms. JUNE BENEDICT: Good morning.

Ms. JOAN BUCKLEY: Good morning.

BROWN: Good to have you all here.

Dr. Antell…

Dr. DARRICK ANTELL (Plastic Surgeon, Lenox Hill Hospital): Yes.

BROWN: …I think what is so fascinating about this is, we hear about the effects of the environment, but here you really do see it. you have almost identical DNA…

Dr. ANTELL: Mm-hmm.

BROWN: …and yet they are aging differently because of individual factors–stress, smoking, cancer, whatever that they’ve experienced in their lives, right?

Dr. ANTELL: Exactly. And this really gets at the heart of the nature vs. nurture controversy, and it shows that you can control the rate at which you age. Now we’re all going to get older, but if you do all the things that mom always told you to do…

BROWN: Yeah.

Dr. ANTELL: …avoid excess sun, avoid smoking and limit stress–you can help slow the aging process.

BROWN: And this is–we’ve got before pictures of Gay and Gwyn, who are also joining us here.

Dr. ANTELL: Uh-huh.

BROWN: And explain to us their differences, because I know Gay–and Gay you can tell us about this, experienced more stress in her life; also with–lived in Hawaii, so spent a lot more time in the sun.

Dr. ANTELL: Yes.

BROWN: And you can see the deeper lines in here than…

Dr. ANTELL: Well, Gay had also lived in Southeast Asia, she was a big sun worshipper. The wrinkle pattern is similar between both she and her sister, but they’re just deeper, the skin is coarser. And look at the upper eyelid skin, there’s just a significant amount more on Gay than there is on Gwyn. And she’s lost some elasticity to her skin.

BROWN: And so over here we’ve got the after pictures of what you did.

Dr. ANTELL: Yes.

BROWN: And you’re trying to bring them back into alignment as twins, right?

Dr. ANTELL: Exactly. Well, all plastic surgery today, we try to do minimal procedures, things like Botox and other things that are less invasive. And what we studied with Gay and Gwyn were different face-lift techniques to bring them back in balance. And what we were able to conclude is that some of the more straightforward, less invasive operations were equally as successful.

BROWN: I have to check in with them.

Hi, guys.

Ms. BLOCK: Good morning.

Ms. SIROTA: Good morning.

BROWN: Are you happy?

Ms. SIROTA: Oh, yes.

BROWN: Is it true? And this is Gay, right? I don’t–let me double check.

Ms. SIROTA: Absolutely.

BROWN: Your lifestyle, do you–did you notice it when you looked at each other when you were together?

Ms. BLOCK: No, I honestly thought that–thought I looked younger. I did.

BROWN: But are you happy with the result?

Ms. BLOCK: Yes, very.

BROWN: What was your goal? Trying to be, sort of–have that similar appearance again?

Ms. BLOCK: Just to have an adventure.

BROWN: Yeah, that’s the right goal. Thank you both for being here.

And let’s move over to our next set of twins, Marjorie and Jane, or–yeah. And here again we have the before of each and then the after of each.

Dr. ANTELL: Yes, exactly.

Let me start over here. This is Marjorie’s before and after and let me draw your attention to the neck. You’ll notice how much cleaner it is afterwards.

BROWN: And they both have essentially the same issue here.

Dr. ANTELL: Exactly. Yeah, they have the same issue, Campbell. Their neck is a little bit loose. But I’ve always thought plastic surgery should whisper and not scream. And I think if you look at their after result they look cleaner, they look better, but it doesn’t look done.

BROWN: Right.

And how do you guys feel?

Ms. MEL: Oh, we’ve loved it.

BROWN: Really?

Ms. MEL: Yes, its amazing.

BROWN: And when–this surgery was done a while ago, right?

Dr. ANTELL: Their surgery was approximately seven or eight years ago at this point.

Ms. MEL: Yeah, it was.

BROWN: And how–how do you–I, can I ask you–this might be a little bit rude.

Ms. MEL: Certainly. Whatever.

BROWN: How old–how old you all are?

Ms. MEL: We’re…

Ms. WHARTON: I knew you would ask that.

Ms. MEL: We’re two–we’re two months away from 70.

BROWN: You look fantastic. You look fantastic.

Ms. MEL: Well, thank you. Thank you.

BROWN: You look fantastic.

And show us–OK, this sort of brings it all home for–for us…

Dr. ANTELL: Yep, uh-huh.

BROWN: …what you did with our last two, Joan and June.

Dr. ANTELL: Exactly. Now Joan and June also have loose skin in their neck, they have some jowl formation. But what we’re studying now–and we have an ongoing study on identical twins–is doing the short scar technique. If we look at this diagram over here…

BROWN: Uh-huh.

Dr. ANTELL: …you’ll see that the shorter incision only goes up in here, and it avoids the hair completely. So it doesn’t disturb the hair, vs. the traditional incision which goes behind the ear. And one of the biggest advantages is the short incision is very-ponytail friendly. It doesn’t invade the hair. It’s done mostly under local anesthesia with a shorter recovery and fewer complications.

BROWN: And, Joan, hi, how are you guys?

Ms. BUCKLEY: Hi.

Ms. BENEDICT: HI.

BROWN: Joan, you experienced a shorter procedure, right?

Ms. BUCKLEY: I had the shorter one, yes.

BROWN: And have you experienced different effects? Sort of the after-effects from the recovery time, because you all had your surgery pretty recently, right?

Ms. BUCKLEY: Yes. My–mine was shorter recovery time also.

BROWN: And yours was?

Ms. BENEDICT: It took a little longer.

BROWN: A little longer to get through the experience.

Ms. BENEDICT: A little longer.

BROWN: And Dr. Antell, are we going to be seeing more of this? I was reading that it takes a more experienced surgeon to do the shorter procedure, right?

Dr. ANTELL: Well, it–it requires more dexterity, Campbell, to do the shorter incision because you’re working through a smaller incision. So it’s like building a ship in a bottle. You can still do all the work you need to do to the deeper layers, but it’s a shorter incision and a shorter recovery. It’s also particularly useful on people that have had previous work done where they just want to bring it back in balance. You don’t need to necessarily open the whole incision again.

BROWN: Right. Well, Dr. Antell, it’s very interesting.

Dr. ANTELL: Thank you.

BROWN: And thank you all for coming in and being so open and sharing all this. We appreciate it.

DIANE SAWYER, co-host: Well, a landmark study is out now, proving that the way you live can affect the way you age. We first told you about this study in April, and the results will be announced later today.

(VO) The twins who participated in the study celebrated at a cocktail party here in New York last night. And joining us now is plastic surgeon Dr. Darrick Antell, who conducted the study.

And also with us, two sets of twins who participated, Janet Spira and Jane Reinhart, and Gay Block and Gwyn Sirota.

And we appreciate you being with us this morning.

GUESTS (in unison): Thank you. Good morning.

DIANE SAWYER: Dr. Antell…

DARRICK ANTELL (Plastic Surgeon): Yes.

DIANE SAWYER: …you have identical twins, right, same genetic makeup, and you watch how they behave and how it affects their aging process. You’re saying that it absolutely does?

ANTELL: Yes. The interesting thing about this study is it’s the first study of its type where with genetically identical people we see changes in the way they age. And they’re mostly attributable to lifestyle choices.

DIANE SAWYER: Like?

ANTELL: Smoking, sun exposure, stress.

DIANE SAWYER: All right. Let’s meet a couple of our candidates here. Let me ask for Gay and Gwyn about the two of you.

And, Gay, I know we’ve talked before about this. You – you’ve labeled yourself the bad twin.

(VO) What did you do that was so different from your sister?

Ms. GAY BLOCK: I had a lot of stress in my life, I did a lot of sun, did some alcohol and some drugs.

DIANE SAWYER: And you — you’re – by comparison, you’re just perfect, right?

Ms. GWYN SIROTA: I wish I could say so. But just not so excessive…(unintelligible).

DIANE SAWYER: But really not sun, not alcohol?

Ms. GWYN SIROTA: I really was – lived a lot more – less stressful life than Gay.

DIANE SAWYER: (VO) OK, I’m going to put a picture up right now and show the two of you before Dr. Antell did a little surgical work on you. And you’re saying that this is the exact measure of what Gay’s lifestyle…

ANTELL: (VO) Yes, and Gay, in particular, we felt that sun exposure was the main factor. She had excessive sun exposure, and the wrinkle pattern on her skin was similar to her sister’s, but there were more of them, and they were deeper.

DIANE SAWYER: (VO) All right, let me go to Janet here, and let me ask Jane, first…

Ms. JANE REINHART: (VO) Yes.

DIANE SAWYER: (VO) Bad twin.

Ms. JANE REINHART: (VO) No, not me. I’m very conservative. She, perhaps…

Ms. JANET SPIRA: I am. I’m the bad one.

DIANE SAWYER: (VO) OK, and I want to stress again, these are – these are their words, these are the words you all used, not mine.

And again, what was the difference in the kind of lives you lived?

Ms. JANET SPIRA: I had a more stressful life, just raising chil– two children alone. And I lived in the Midwest, where Jane has lived in the South most of her life.

DIANE SAWYER: All right, I’m going to put up the pictures again and show this to you.

(VO) And you’re saying again, we can see a life etched on a face.

ANTELL: And they all — and they’ve all had surgery.

DIANE SAWYER: Come right around – come right around in the back. They all had surgery. All proving the same point, you say that your mother was right once again. And we thank you all for being with us. We’ll be back with you more.