In episodes with names like "How to Stop the Clock on Aging," "Look Younger! Live Longer!" and "Look 10 Years Younger in 10 Days," Winfrey introduced Thermage as one of the "latest cutting-edge treatments" and as a "lunchtime face-lift" that requires no recovery time.When Thermage was first showcased on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in 2003, "the show drove so much interest that our sales reps were selling machines over the phone," said Stephen J. Fanning, president and chief executive of Thermage Inc., which sells machines to doctors for about $30,000.And every time "Oprah" reruns one of its Thermage episodes, most recently last summer, traffic on the Thermage Web site (thermage.com) spikes to 30,000 hits for the day, Fanning said. Ten to 14 percent of the people who visit the site after seeing an "Oprah" episode end up visiting a doctor's office to have a facial procedure, at an average cost of $3,500, he added.Winfrey's ability to create best-selling books with an endorsement on Oprah's Book Club is well-known. Much less recognized is her Midas touch in the beauty industry. With an average of about 9 million viewers daily, the "Oprah" show drives enormous traffic to cosmetics counters, spas and doctors' offices when she endorses a product or a treatment, according to beauty industry executives."Getting on 'Oprah' is like winning the lottery," said Marianne Diorio, senior vice president of global communications for Estée Lauder. "Because her audience really trusts her, if Oprah or her producers sincerely fall in love with some product or person, the results can be spectacular," Diorio said.The skin-care brand Philosophy was sold only in a handful of stores when Winfrey included its Hope in a Jar moisturizer in a 1996 episode. "She took this obscure little company and gave us national name recognition," said Cristina Carlino, founder of Philosophy.The brand now sells in Nordstrom, Macy's and Sephora stores and on QVC. Last December, when Philosophy Amazing Grace Shower Gel appeared on "Oprah," the product's monthly sales increased to 18,000 bottles from 3,000 the previous December, said Carlino, who calls her manufacturing plant "the house that Oprah built."

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