BOTOX LEFT ME LOPSIDED – SO WHY DID I RISK IT ALL OVER AGAIN?
For 50 years, top writers have shared life-defining moments with Femail. Here, we reveal what happened next...
WHAT I WROTE THEN
duRIng my third Botox treatment in Los Angeles in 1999, the doctor suggested injecting my upper forehead to tackle some faint lines appearing there.
Seven days later, I boarded a flight to London and, by the time I arrived, one eye was drooping uncontrollably. The fact that half my face was also frozen was unknown to me until the shocked friend who had come to meet my flight looked aghast and said: ‘What on earth has happened to you?’
I made a panicked call to the clinic and the doctor admitted she had forgotten to warn me not to fly soon after the procedure. In rare cases, a drop in pressure during a flight can cause the Botox to move.
She assured me that the paralysis would be temporary, but I raged at her for not warning me — and was equally angry with myself for submitting my body to unnecessary harm.
My drooping features remained with me for several horrible weeks, but the memory has never faded.
I find the idea of Botox being accessible on the British high Street appalling. As I discovered, it’s easy to be seduced by the promise of a quick fix, but, believe me, in doing so, you are gambling with your looks.
WHAT I ACTUALLY DID
ThIS happened 20 years ago, but I remember it so well.
My face dropped on one side mid-flight, giving me a very unfortunate look. My loved ones were horrified.
My boyfriend at the time — an organic farmer — made me promise not to mess with my face ever again.
The lopsided appearance lasted for several weeks, after which I resolved to go back to my natural, pre-Botox look with no more injections.
I was living in Los Angeles at the time, and a healthy lifestyle — early- morning workouts on the beach in the sunshine, followed by fresh juices from the health store on the corner — lessened the temptation to play around with chemicals in my face.
But, after five years running a business and writing books in California, I returned to London with a new boyfriend and having acquired several grandchildren.
By then, Botox had become the norm for most of the high-flying career women I taught in my new leadership programme. Boots was even offering it.
despite my fine words promising never to have Botox in my face again, I got swept up in the trend.
I sought out the best practitioners I could find to keep my late-50s wrinkles at bay.
I was clearly in denial about my previous experience and believed London’s needle experts knew exactly what they were doing.
I went for injections two or three times a year from then on.
Why did I do it? There was certainly no pressure on me to look young for my career. I wasn’t a TV presenter. I made no secret of my age.
I was on the dating scene, admittedly, yet never felt the liberated men I met would like me more if I looked younger.
I can only assume that it was insecurity that made me want to keep looking smooth and youthful. It was also laziness — a shortcut beauty routine.
I never made a conscious decision to quit Botox. The habit just slowly fizzled out and, by my early 60s, I had forgotten about it.
I was following a healthy lifestyle again and rarely even had time to look in the mirror.
My face is now on social media on a daily basis, promoting my online women’s community, Seed, and workshops at my wellbeing hub ( hubatno3. com) in Wincanton, Somerset.
Far from being worried about how I look, I’ve realised that smiling is the best face lift I could ask for — that and a nifty jade facial contouring tool, which I use regularly.
At 71, I like who I am and the way I look.
I’m a baby boomer moving into my wisdom years, so I can now finally live what I preach: that natural beauty is always more attractive.
‘It was sheer laziness! Botox is a shortcut to beauty’