Robert M Tornambe M.D. - The Beauty Quotient Formula: How to Find Your Own Beauty Quotient to Look Your Best--No Matter What Your Age

Praise for The Beauty Quotient Formula

Dr. Tornambe offers helpful alternatives to those people
who would prefer not to go under the knife but are still
hoping to look better and feel better at any age.

Joan Rivers, comedian

This book is a must read for anyone who might seek personal,
and perhaps, physical and psychological changes in their lives.

Raymond LaRaja, M.D., clinical professor of surgery at
Mt. Sinai Medical School and former clinical professor of
surgery at New York University Medical School

HOW TO FIND YOUR OWN
BEAUTY QUOTIENT
TO LOOK YOUR BEST
NO MATTER WHAT YOUR AGE

ROBERT M. TORNAMBE, M.D., F.A.C.S.
with Karen Moline

HAY HOUSE, INC.
Carlsbad, California New York City
London Sydney Johannesburg
Vancouver Hong Kong New Delhi

Copyright 2010 by Robert M. Tornambe

Published and distributed in the United States by: Hay House, Inc.: www.hayhouse.com Published and distributed in Australia by: Hay House Australia Pty. Ltd.: www.hayhouse.com.au Published and distributed in theUnited Kingdom by: Hay House UK, Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.uk Publishedand distributed in the Republic of South Africa by: Hay House SA (Pty), Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.za Distributed in Canada by: Raincoast: www.raincoast.com Published in India by: Hay House Publishers India: www.hayhouse.co.in

Design: Jami Goddess

Interior photos: Clara Bow Hulton Archive/Getty Images; Katharine Hepburn Clarence Sinclair Bull/Hulton Archive/Getty Images; Ingrid Bergman John Kobal Foundation/Hulton Archive/Getty Images; Audrey Hepburn Allan Grant/Time &Life Pictures/Getty Images; Twiggy Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images; Bette Midler CBS Photo Archive/Hulton Archive/Getty Images; Tina Turner GAB Archive/Redferns/Getty Images; Kate Moss Dave Allocca/Time & Life Pictures/ Getty Images; Michelle Yeoh Evan Agostini/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images; Appendix D Virgil Wong

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private useother than for fair use as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviewswithout prior written permission of the publisher.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Tornambe, Robert M. (Robert Milo)

The beauty quotient formula : how to find your own beauty quotient to look your best- no matter what your age / Robert M. Tornambe. -- 1st ed.
p. cm.

ISBN 978-1-4019-2451-5 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Beauty, Personal. 2. Body image. I. Title.

HQ1219.T67 2010
646.72--dc22

2009045604ISBN: 978-1-4019-2451-5

13 12 11 10 4 3 2 1
1st edition, April 2010

Printed in the United States of America

To My Father

His wisdom, kindness, and generosity provided
a beacon of integrity to guide his four sons
through life, long after his passing.

CONTENTS

Beautiful? For whom? Why, for myself, of course.
Colette

One night when I was out to dinner with some friends, I glanced over to a nearby table and saw an elderly woman in a wheelchair, choking. She had stopped breathing and was turning blue, so I jumped from my seat and ran over to help. I identified myself as a doctor, and my friends and I got her out of the wheelchair and performed the Heimlich maneuver. She quickly recovered, and her daughter, with whom shed been eating, thanked me profusely.

What kind of doctor are you? she asked.

Im a plastic surgeon, I replied.

Oh, really? she asked, looking at me aghast. With that nose?

That was her thank-you for me saving her mothers lifenot the nicest, Ill admit, but it got me thinking. I like my nose the way it is, and I like the wrinkles on my forehead. Quite frankly, Im happy with the way I look now. But the people who come to me for plastic surgery arent, even when they have physical features that would be considered more beautiful than my less-than-svelte nose or my wrinkled forehead. What, precisely, are my patients seeking?

Ive spent more than 25 years examining and operating on thousands of patients, listening to their dreams, hopes, and desires. As a physician and surgeon, I wanted to offer my patients as many options as possible, so they could choose which was healthiest for them. This quest led me to develop a comprehensive approach to beauty that looks at more than the physicalone that provides solutions to beauty concerns without having to go under the knife. I call this system BQ, or Beauty Quotient. It looks at that indefinable something that makes one persons face, which might not be considered classically beautiful, work so well, while others with perfect features seem somehow lacking. Although beauty is truly an indefinable characteristicone thats always going to remain in the eye of the beholdermy spin on this was not to look for the flaws, but to look for and accentuate all the inimitable factors that make each person unique.

A persons BQ ratingthe higher the bettercomes from a combination of factors. Having a slightly-too-large nose, an overbite, and sparkling eyes coupled with a certain radiance and vitality, for example, can mesh together in a unique harmony. It is this interplay that makes someone beautiful or homelynot their physical features alone.

After all, how many times have you met someone strikingly beautiful or handsome, but after five minutes of conversation, you suddenly realize that this person no longer has such a zing? Something about their personality became off-putting to youperhaps an offhand comment, a gesture, how they behave, or the scent of their perfume. Any of these factors can instantly increase or decrease a persons BQ according to your perception of them.

Take, for example, my perception of news anchor Connie Chung. I met her years ago when I was called to a New York City emergency room to treat her husband, Maury Povich, who had sustained a facial laceration while working out. We spoke briefly on several occasions, and I remember thinking how exquisite she wasso much prettier in person than on TV. I soon realized that her unforced charm, wit, and lively personality, as well as her beauty (untouched by a scalpel) gave her a very high BQ score.

Another woman with an amazingly high BQ was Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. One of my favorite memories is of a cloudy, crisp fall day, when I was out running around the Central Park reservoir and noticed a tall, slender woman running toward me. I couldnt quite make her out at first, and then as we were getting closer and closer, I noticed the cheekbones. Then the famous eyes. And thenoh my God, it really was her!