In the Beverly Hills office of Dr. Barry Weintraub, Leila Ali, an Iranian- born clothing designer, stares at an image of her face on a television screen, fascinated by its changing profile. Beside her, the doctor manipulates a stylus on an electromagnetic pad. As they watch, the nose on Ali's TV image undergoes a subtle transformation, becoming less prominent and more turned up.
Not far away, at Bullock's department store in Sherman Oaks, Calif., Cathy- Lee Vincent, a store employee, is transfixed by the televised image of her face as electronic "makeup" is applied, cleaned off and then reapplied in a...