The rise of the lunchtime ‘tweakment’

To avoid looking too ‘done’, many are eschewing surgery for non-invasive options that use cutting-edge techniques – without any cutting. Our experts find out more about the future of the quick beauty fix

Secret Weapon: Narrowing noses with Botox and subtly making faces look more youthful with almost invisible tweaks that include injecting earlobes with filler.

Motto: A little goes a long way.

Medical practitioners with aesthetics as highly attuned as Dr Maryam Zamani are uncommon. Beneath the scrubs, this Gucci and Chloé-wearing Iranian-born MD (she trained in the USA; the equivalent here is a GP), also qualified as an oculoplastic surgeon.

But it’s her eye for detail that’s remarkable. She can spot an earlobe that’s heading south from across the room (heavy earrings don’t help apparently). More to the point, she knows what to do about it. “A little filler lifts the lobes so earrings hang nicely again and the face looks more youthful, although no one will be able to work out why.”

Imperceptible but ultra-effective treatments are Dr Zamani’s speciality, and she believes in prevention. “If you start before a line’s too embedded, you can stop it becoming a wrinkle. I’m not saying it’s not a slippery slope though, which is why you must find a practitioner you trust.” That means one who may say no to your requests; Dr Zamani won’t give patients Botox more than three times a year.

Administering tiny doses of filler here, minute portions of Botox there, interspersed with light therapies, laser and PRP (injections of platelet-rich plasma), she’s the Raphael of cosmeticians, blurring crows’ feet, re-shaping brows, softening the effects of vein-y hands, erasing sag (“the number one age-er”), adding volume, particularly around the periphery where fat is lost, to create harmony, lift and tighten while improving the texture and quality of the skin.

She can even narrow noses by injecting Botox along the bridge and down the sides. “That’s a good one, and not many people know about it.” The results are extraordinarily subtle, and in the case of filler, instant. “None of this is meant to change how you look, just make you look fresher,” she says.

Is she worried about toxicity? “Botox has been around long enough now for us to assess the risks.” As for fillers, there are hundreds of varieties on the market in the EU. Results last from three to 18 months for hyaluronic acid fillers, which are gradually degraded by our bodies’ own enzymes depending on how they were created. There are poly-l-lactic acid fillers that are also gradually degraded by our body and expelled in 12-24 months as well as calcium hydroxyapatite, which also lasts 9-18 months. Dr Zamani doesn’t work with any permanent lasting versions.

“You have to start with good skin. Too many people focus only on getting rid of all their facial expression, but sun damage and poor elasticity are far more ageing than the odd wrinkle.”

Dr Zamani recommends using microencapsulated sun protection (she has her own range of acclaimed skin products) and taking calcium, magnesium and vitamin D supplements. “Bone gets reabsorbed as we age which is why jaws and eyes can appear to recede.”

“Why wouldn’t you do what you can, within reason, to look better? It’s less time consuming and no more chemical than getting your roots done.”

drmaryamzamani.com