letter from the editor: January '05.(magnifying mirror usage and humiliation of women)(Editorial)

Smoke and Mirrors

I ran into three people in the lobby of the Four Seasons Hotel recently who complained to me about their skin. Each one had a similar story. "The magnifying mirror," said one woman. "I can't tear myself away from it. I just keep looking at my pores and poking at them until...this" -- and she pointed to her blotchy chin. Another friend who employs a fancy brow groomer at home found herself in her hotel room with a few hours to spare. She picked up a pair of tweezers, parked herself in the bathroom, and didn't emerge until her left eyebrow was a shadowy wisp. One doctor has a name for the habit of scrubbing and probing the skin with Lady Macbeth vigor: "porexia." She's seen cases where patients become so preoccupied with their blackheads that they end up leaving scars. Those light-up magnifying mirrors certainly don't help matters. What is invisible at a reasonable distance is distorted up close. The face becomes a grotesque cluster of freckles, hairs, blemishes, lines, and crater-like pores, all ripe for dissection. Those mirrors should carry warning signs like the ones on cars. Rather than "objects are closer than they appear," the message should be something about flaws being smaller. Or maybe this: "4X magnification equals 4X ...