Presented with patients who were suffering from emotional problems and thought liposuction was the answer, or stunningly beautiful women who felt ugly inside, psychiatrist Dr. Eva Ritvo of Miami and dermatologist Dr. Debra Luftman of Beverly Hills started thinking about the connections among physical beauty, health and self-esteem. They came up with The Beauty Prescription: The Complete Formula for Looking and Feeling Beautiful (McGraw Hill, $24.95). They advise women on how to make the best of all their assets -- physical, emotional and cosmetic -- to be as beautiful as they can be, inside and out.

We discussed the psychology of beauty with Ritvo, who is vice chair and associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami, where she also has an appointment in dermatology. She is also chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach. Her answers have been edited for space. You can find more details about the brain-beauty-body connection at www.thebeautyprescription.com.

Q: Why does beauty matter?

A: The things that we call beauty now I believe are really things that told our ancestors which genes would get to the next generation. I believe that beauty is really just a marker of health and fertility and vitality. And that's our concept of the book: a redefinition of beauty, that it's not a surface quality. It's important to our species and it's a worthwhile goal, but it cannot be the one dimension that we see with the air-brushed, retouched magazine photos.

Q: How beautiful do you have to be?

A: We believe that every woman is beautiful and that every man is handsome. But it's up to the individual to do what it takes to preserve that beauty as you get older and also to enhance that, because we live in a very visual and a very competitive society. Since people do make rapid judgments, it does help to be your most beautiful.

Q: What's the importance of inner beauty?

A: Inner beauty, to me as a mental health professional, is what it's all about. Part of the way this book came about was Dr. Debra and I comparing notes. She would have these women going through crises, going through divorce, going through cancer and they'd come to here and say fix that wrinkle, put this Botox. Then I would have these stunningly beautiful models that just look perfect here on South Beach and yet they felt awful inside. Our concept was to try to help women from both angles. Yes, it's great to have Botox and your fillers and look fabulous. But if you don't have that inner beauty, that inner confidence, that inner strength going with it, your life's not going to go anywhere.

Q: How do you develop inner beauty?

A: Inner beauty is something that comes to us in childhood when we have positive experiences as we're growing. For many people it's not that simple. As they reach adulthood, they may find there are holes in their inner beauty, that they don't feel as confident as they should. We start out by telling every woman she's 20 percent more beautiful than she thinks. Inner beauty can come from people giving you positive feedback and you giving yourself positive feedback. And that's best done when you recognize your own strengths and weaknesses.

Q:If you have inner beauty, why do you need Botox or plastic surgery?

A: Nobody needs Botox or plastic surgery. Everybody out there is a social human being. We naturally feel good when people respond positively to us. That's why people do it. Because we're visual. We do make snap decisions. If you can walk into a room and light up a room without Botox and fillers, go girl. On the other hand, it is a little bit easier to light up a room when you can also get people to respond to you visually. What we're very much against is plastic surgery, Botox, fillers for the wrong reasons.

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