SAN DIEGO -- Botox is a popular way to get rid of those annoying frown lines between your eyes. But if you want a more permanent fix without major surgery, a San Diego cosmetic surgeon has the answer.

Chris Parry doesn't look anywhere near his age. But at 51, one thing about his appearance was starting to bug him.

"I thought I was starting to look tired and creased, especially along the center here. I had a very deep crease," Parry said.

As a college professor, Parry had some added motivation.

"I work in the university with a lot of young people. So I don't want to look like an old fart," Parry said.

First, Parry tried Botox injections. They helped, but they didn't last. So Parry talked to a few doctors about surgical options.

"Most of them wanted to do a full coronal cut brow lift, and I didn't want that," Parry said.

Who can blame him? A brow lift is a major procedure, according to Dr. Scott Miller, a plastic surgeon in La Jolla, Calif.

"(A brow lift) involves making an incision from ear to ear and involves peeling the forehead skin and muscle down and getting access to the frown muscles," Miller said.

Miller offered Parry an alternative -- a less-invasive procedure called selective endoscopic wrinkle surgery.

"We go in with a scope through an incision, identify the muscle and we can either divide it, thin it or take a part out if there's excess muscle bulk there," Miller said.

After numbing and marking the area, Miller got to Parry's muscle through a tiny incision in the hairline. A curved instrument was fed under the Parry's forehead skin to the muscle between the eyebrows.

Through an endoscope, Miller could see on a monitor the location of the muscle. He resected the muscle and the frown lines disappeared. The entire outpatient procedure took 45 minutes.

Parry said he is thrilled with the results.