It’s easy to dodge cosmetic cowboys

I have had a lot of ‘work’ done over the years, with the result that I look younger than my 51 years – even to the extent that I am sometimes asked for my ID when buying alcohol.

Your investigation last week by Charlotte Wace on ‘cosmetic cowboys’ suggests that women are the helpless victims of unqualified therapists, but this is not really the case – as these high street practitioners would not be able to operate at all if they had no customers.

The key to getting aesthetic work done on your face is to do your research. Look online, talk to people, read up on the procedure, have a consultation with a practitioner whose credentials you can check out, and ask to see or speak to their previous clients. If you are in any doubt, then don’t go ahead.

You can’t expect anyone else to care about your appearance as much as you do, so take responsibility for it. I can’t say I have much sympathy with the women in your case studies.

If you are the sort of person who wanders off the street into a salon and lets a beauty therapist talk you into a treatment, then bad things are inevitably going to happen – and, quite frankly, you deserve it. Chris Russell, Southampton