Now, this machine looked impressive, but despite the good bit of digging I did after the appointment, I could not find an independent analysis of its clinical value. The website for the company that manufactures the machine states, among other things, that the company has “deployed [their] complexion-analysis software as a sales tool to promote” brands of cosmetic products, that it “impressively increases business in all of your skin-care services,” and that the machine “was never intended for clinical trials.” Reading between the lines (or, actually, simply reading the lines), it seemed the company viewed this machine as a way to move product. So there were reasons to be dubious about the meaning and relevance of the results.

Still, the premise of the device, taking pictures of my face to assess its condition, was not far-fetched. I went with the flow.

The good news: My wrinkle situation was great. For my age and ethnicity, I had fewer wrinkles than about 95 percent of the population. The bad news: “You have the worst pores I have seen in over eight years,” Marie told me with a shake of her head. I stifled the sudden impulse to dash out of the room to scrub my face with an industrial-strength solvent.

I left Marie’s office with a bag full of high-end beauty products, including a cleansing-exfoliation gel that was designed to decongest aging skin, another cleaning lotion to control bacteria, a nighttime moisturizer that claims to be specifically designed for bad pores, and a morning moisturizer that doubles as a sunblock. The plan was to use these products morning and night for three months.

* * *

The beauty industry is, of course, massive. It involves everything from teeth-whitening toothpaste to ridiculously expensive shampoo that will transform your hair from “ordinary to extraordinary,” if you believe an advertisement for a product that contains white truffles and caviar and costs more than $60 for an 8.5-ounce bottle. It involves celebrity-endorsed cosmetics, perfumes, and a host of fashion products. And it involves numerous fitness and slimming gimmicks. I will make no attempt to undertake a comprehensive analysis of every allegedly beautifying product that is touched by a celebrity. The number is infinite. It’s enough to know that the beauty industry is a huge cultural force in a tight, symbiotic relationship with celebrities and the celebrity-oriented media. The size and influence of this industry creates challenges for anyone seeking to get to the truth about the products it makes and promotes.

In my research I worked hard to find experts who could provide a reasonably independent view of the alleged benefits of the myriad beauty and anti-aging products and services. This proved to be much more difficult than I anticipated. Many experts I found were not independent scientists, but dermatologists who also had a clinical practice and, as such, benefit (some greatly) from a thriving industry. I am not saying that physicians knowingly twist information about the efficacy of beauty treatments, but there is ample evidence that such conflicts of interest can have an impact on how research is presented and interpreted.