The brave new world of ANTI -AGEING
Double-chin erasers. Injectable moisturisers. Grow-your-own facelifts. ALICE HART-DAVIS reveals . . .
ON MY right, there’s a pair of lips overblown with fillers in a stand-out trout pout. Behind, are three smartly dressed women, all with supersmooth foreheads and unnaturally slanted eyebrows, who look like they all see the same, heavy-handed Botox doctor.
On my left, there’s an older woman with so much filler in her face that, when she smiles, her eyes almost vanish behind her bulging cheeks.
Welcome to the Aesthetic and Anti-ageing Medicine World Congress (AMWC) 2018, the frontline of cosmetic medicine. If this is the face of the future, it’s looking alarmingly plastic.
Of course, not all the 12,000 delegates who gather annually in Monaco for this, the biggest meeting in the global anti-ageing calendar, look peculiar.
In fact, many of the doctors, surgeons, nurses and dermatologists look glowing with health, and just ‘rested and fresher’ in testament to their world-class skills.
For four days, we will pile into the huge amphitheatres of the Monte Carlo conference centre to listen to doctors, surgeons and ‘thought leaders’ talk about every conceivable cosmetic topic.
We will watch the latest hands-on techniques in sculpting the face with injectable fillers, or honing the body with fat-busting lasers, and hear about the new developments in the sometimes outlandish field of cosmetic aesthetics.
So, what’s coming next? This is what you need to know . . .
INJECTABLE SKINCARE TREATMENTS
WE ARE all familiar with the idea of injecting Botox to reduce muscle movement in the face, or injecting fillers to plump cheeks, but those in the know are moving on to injectable treatments that moisturise skin from the inside.
These wonder-substances are gels made from hyaluronic acid, a naturally occurring substance which holds many times its own weight in water.
Much runnier than normal filler gels, these injectable moisturisers sit just beneath the surface of the skin and soften it from within.
There’s Volite from Allergan, Skin Boosters from Restylane and Redensity from Teoxane.
But doctors are raving most about Profhilo. It does more than moisturise; it kick-starts the production of collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid within the skin, making it look smoother.
Also, it takes two treatments of ten pinprick injections a month apart (other brands take dozens of injections). Patients are having it injected in their faces, on their decolletage and even their tummies.
The cost is about €1,000, at salons including the Ailesbury Clinic in Dublin, Cork and Galway (ailesburyclinic.ie), and Kerry Hanaphy Clinic in Dublin (kerryhanaphy.com).
GROW-YOUROWN FACELIFT
YOU may have heard of PRP — the ‘vampire facial’ technique, where the platelet-rich plasma (that’s the PRP bit) is extracted from your own blood, then reinjected into your face. The aim is to stimulate the growth of new collagen and elastin in the skin.
The latest development uses concentrated PRP and stem cells — the cells in your body that can develop into many different types of tissue — extracted from your fat, to rejuvenate the face. The technique is pioneered by Mr Kambiz Golchin, a consultant plastic surgeon who practices in London and Dublin.
If this cocktail of stem cells and PRP is injected into skin lightly ‘damaged’ by laser treatment, the stem cells will ‘act as building blocks. They can regenerate as fat cells or skin cells, whatever is needed’, he says.
This means the procedure has an extraordinary, grow-your-own-facelift effect. Extra fat can be added too to counteract hollowness under the eyes.
The procedure takes around three hours and costs upwards of €11,000, but the results will last around five years (kambizgolchin.com).
DISSOLVE A DOUBLE CHIN
A DECADE ago, there was an injectable treatment known as the ‘flab jab’, which was based on a chemical called deoxycholic acid. This dissolved fat in the area where it was injected (the fat was excreted by the body) and was effective, if uncomfortable. But because the technique did not have official approval, it was eventually banned.
Now, a new injectable fat-buster called Belkyra is due to be launched in Ireland later this year, also made from deoxycholic acid, but with a much better pedigree.
It is from cosmetic industry leaders Allergan and already has approval from the American Food and Drug Administration, which polices such products. A patient is expected to need two treatments of Belkyra to treat a double chin, and each will cost from €900.
Does it work? Yes, though there is a certain amount of stinging when the product is injected and swelling for several days, says a friend of mine who has tried it.
Even more exciting, according to insiders, is the way that Belkyra is being trialled on the body. When injected into, say, a roll of fat on the lower tummy, it can flatten it as effectively as liposuction, and also works on ‘moobs’, those unsightly fatty male breasts.
In the meantime, there is Aqualyx, a similar fat-dissolving injection, already available in Ireland. Dr Lalloo successfully uses Aqualyx to dissolve small stubborn areas of fat and contour the body at his Dublin clinic. Prices start from €375 (cosmedics.ie).
BLAST YOUR CELLULITE
THE newest — and decidedly hardcore, painful and invasive — way to tackle cellulite is with a process called Cellfina.
It involves using a miniature scalpel to slice through the fibrous bands that pull fat into the lumps that appear as cellulite. This might not sound too enticing, but people who have tried it rate it highly.
In Ireland, it’s available at River Medical, which has clinics in Dublin, Cork, Clane in Co. Kildare and Belfast, and you can expect to pay €3,000 for the procedure (rivermedical.ie).
INTIMATE REJUVENATION
AN UNSTOPPABLE trend in recent years has been the growth of ‘intimate rejuvenation’, using lasers or radiofrequency probes to rejuvenate
and tighten slack vaginal tissue, an issue that can arise as women age.
Though the procedures are offered by cosmetic clinics, they are genuinely helpful in treating mild stress incontinence and prolapse after childbirth.
In Ireland, leading consultant gynaecologists Professor Sam Coulter-Smith and Dr Geraldine Connolly are championing intimate procedures as part of an allround approach to women’s health before, during and after the menopause. They offer Thermiva treatment at the Rotunda Private Clinic in Dublin, from €2,800 (gyne-health.ie).
THE BODY IS THE ‘NEW FACE’
THE trend for body treatments has been observed by top cosmetic doctor Tracy Mountford.
Many of her female patients, who are already having regular procedures such as Botox, fillers and pigment-busting Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) on their faces, are now treating their bodies to a similar level of attention.
What exactly are they doing? ‘Everything,’ Dr Mountford says. ‘From Tixel skin tightening and resurfacing the decolletage (from €650) to ultrasound skin stimulation, which encourages remodelling of the collagen to tone up the upper arms (from €2,800).’
Likewise, full-body LED beds will soon be the 21st-century take on sunbeds. A short session under red LED light calms inflammation and stimulates the growth of collagen, leading to firmer skin.
The treatment is not yet available here — you’ll have to go to Britain if you fancy a go on a fullbody bed. There is only one available there, the Body Boost bed at trusted light therapy.co.uk in Suffolk, which is said to ease back pain and improve eczema as well as skin firmness. A 25-minute session costs €85.
LIGHTER BOOB IMPLANTS
NEW-GENERATION breast implants made with silicone gel filled with hollow spheres are 30% lighter than traditional implants, as well as more transparent under mammography. Several cosmetic surgeons across Europe, including Chris Inglefield London Bridge Plastic Surgery (lbps.co.uk), are already using them but they are not yet available in Ireland. These could be the way of the future, though experts advise caution over new types of implant that can’t yet show long-term safety trials.
Leading plastic surgeon Rajiv Grover explains: ‘There are 35 or more implants on sale in Europe because they are classified as medical devices which only require a CE mark.
‘A CE mark can be obtained by treating a handful of patients with a 6-12 month follow up. Often the real issues with medical devices take longer than this to emerge.’
THE BIG LIP BACKLASH
ALL the doctors I spoke to are concerned by the way so many young women are chasing the fulllipped look.
It’s a huge problem for reputable practitioners, who are reluctant to give young women the disproportionately big lips they see on social media.
Dr Arthur Swift, a leading plastic surgeon from Montreal (drarthurswift.com), explains to potential patients that beauty is all about proportion.
To this end, he measures their facial features with a special pair of calipers, then, if necessary, gives them a small, but appropriate, dose of filler. ‘Then,’ he says, ‘I can tell patients: “Now, you are perfectly proportioned, don’t do any more!” ’
Dr Swift does not practice in Ireland, but Dr Paul Munsaje at Amara in Dublin does similarly careful work with lips (€500, amara.ie).
A WORD OF WARNING
I LEFT the conference slightly uncomfortable at how much more acceptable the whole aesthetics industry is becoming. Uncomfortable because of the surprisingly relaxed attitude to regulation in the Irish esthetics industry — anyone can buy fillers or a laser and start using them on patients.
Never has it been more important to only see a well-qualified, recommended practitioner you trust — even if it does cost more.
One of the more vexing aspects of aesthetics is that while you don’t even notice the good work, you certainly notice the bad, as I did on the overdone women outside the conference centre.
As the industry continues to grow, they may well become the norm. I hope I’m wrong, but I wouldn’t bet on it.