It's like a sword only it's not really

 by Lauren Cusimano
 published on Wednesday, April 9, 2008

The products of consumerism have served mankind efficiently, but now it is time to figure out if some products are after good and if some are just after wallets.

The Luscious Lips Deluxe Kit from Cynthia Rowland is on the market for $59.95. The kit comes with a jar of Therapeutic Lip Crème and the promise of "full, pouty lips that keep you looking younger."

Communications senior Bridget Guadarrama doesn't see the point of the Luscious Lips Deluxe Kit's promise, saying the product is a little extreme.

"People should learn to age," Guadarrama says. "You're eventually going to get old and wrinkly anyway."

The Luscious Lips Deluxe Kit has beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. The pump basically sucks fluid into the lips, giving the bee-stung-lips look.

This regime must be kept up for a few seconds a day, lasting for as long as big lips are in.

Of course, sexy lips wouldn't get anyone very far if a double chin is present under that luscious pout.

The Chin Gym, presented by DIYHut.com, is a contraption with little weights on it and costs $39.95.

The idea is to hold the piece in the mouth and between the teeth for 15 minutes a day. The little weights are for gradual progress, and results can be seen in only a few months. The Chin Gym takes users through 19 increments of weight advancement, which translates to adding more and more tiny weights to the device.

Guadarrama says she doesn't care much for this product, either.

"When you get to a certain age, you can still try to keep yourself healthy, but you have more important things to think about than, 'Oh, I need to get rid of this double chin,' " she says. "I just think it's kind of superficial."

Seeing the Luscious Lips Deluxe Kit or the Chin Gym in some households might seem weird, but spotting Nintendo's Wii in a retirement home is even more bizarre.

A new advance in rehabilitation might be introducing interactive gaming to the world of physical therapy.

Chris Depretis is a doctor of physical therapy and the staff physical therapist at the Desert Terrace Nursing Home in Phoenix.

He says they are not using the Wii for physical therapy, but he can see the potential.

"The idea is not that the game itself necessarily would do anything for improvement but the actual act of participation," Depretis says. "It's a little, but functional in the sense that you're interacting with the game itself."

Depretis says he would have to work individually with patients to see if the console would have any effect.

"It would work with alertness and orientation," he says, "and then the actual physical movement would be beneficial."

Those fluent in Wii also see the potential.

"The Wii would be great for retirement homes because of its interaction with the user and with the controller itself," visual communication junior Brandon Mah says. "The Wii sports game allows the user to do the motion as if they were actually playing the sport."

Just as with the Luscious Lips Deluxe Kit and the Chin Gym, the Wii can also be used at home, just don't try all three at once.

— laurencusimano@asu.edu