Renee Diaz is in her sixties but looks almost a decade younger. Her youthful looks are fetching her a lot of attention from the opposite sex and Renee is thrilled to bits about this. She credits her appearance to injectable cosmetic procedures.

“I’m not a big fan of the knife,” says Renee, who has just retired from a publishing company. “But I was not happy with the lines around my mouth and all those wrinkles creeping up on my face.”

The Food and Drug Administration's approval five years ago of the muscle relaxant Botox for cosmetic purposes launched a revolution that made facial rejuvenation as easy as pressing the 'delete' button. On the heels of Botox, used mainly around eyes to zap frown lines and crow's feet, came Restylane and Hylaform, brand names for a substance found in all animals and plants.

Botox leads the pack of injectables, with 3.8 million treatments done last year, while, Restylane remains the No. 1 filler with about 700,000 procedures in the U.S in 2006. Though the needles hurt, injectable cosmetic procedures are at the top of the charts because the results are rapid and predictable. These treatments also allow patients to return to work with no down time.

The number of cosmetic surgical procedures fell last year by 5 percent to 1.8 million compared with five years earlier, reports the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Over the same period, minimally invasive procedures (including facial injections and laser treatments) performed on 8.5 million Americans climbed 53 percent.

The majority of treatments last from four to six months and require repeated injections at hundreds of dollars a pop to maintain the results. But users loved the instant rejuvenation and minimal down time from temporary side effects that range from redness and bruising to bumps under the skin.