Looking good in laterlife is your guide to today's anti-ageing technology - to help you sort out what's safe and effective in beating wrinkles and maintaining soft supple skin and a lovely smile. We take it for granted that you're not trying to look as though you're still in you're twenties. Nor do you want cosmetic treatment to carry ANY risks at all. This month we look at:
Restylane - the dermal filler
Dee Smith was fed up with people at work telling her how tired she looked. ‘I’d brought up three children and when they left home, I went out and got a full-time job, only to be shown sympathy because I was looking so ragged,’ says Dee, aged 52.
 Back home, she took a long straight look at herself in the mirror and had to acknowledge she was not looking great. ‘You read about celebrities have surgery to stay young but frankly I find the idea horrific. I’m just not one of those people. Then I met Tracey Bell, the clinical director of Age Perfecting Treatments which has clinics in Manchester and Liverpool.
‘I was inspired by Tracey’s confidence, her smile and general passion for life. We got talking and she told me all about the benefits of Restylane, a non-invasive, non-surgical treatment known as a dermal filler. It wouldn’t make me 20 years younger, she told me but it would put a spring in my step.
 ‘I hesitated but Tracey was encouraging. Everybody should have the freedom to flourish and the right to feel good about themselves and this way is so natural that everyone notices but nobody knows.’ She had a filler that erased her nose to mouth lines and a touch of filler in her lips to make them a little bit fuller while still remaining natural and soft.
Dee is typical of the baby boomer generation who are unwilling to age in the way their parents did. But though they might watch people having facelifts on cosmetic surgery TV programmes, they’re not personally interested in looking like a footballer’s wife or a surgical case gone wrong.
A new survey carried out by the Swedish biotechnology company QMed which makes Restylane, found that a majority of women and a fair number of men are looking for non-invasive, non-surgical treatments that can be turned around quickly and, topped up periodically. Instead of post-wrinkle surgery that stretches the skin tight, they are turning to procedures that subtly replenish lost volume with a ‘filler’ injection – gently smoothing out wrinkles without changing their facial expression.
‘Many people seek help after they catch a reflection of themselves in the mirror and don’t like what they see,’ says Marie Duckett, a Harley Street nurse practitioner and one of the leading aesthetic practitioners using non-invasive therapies. ‘They are not trying to regain their long lost youth; they don’t even want their partners or close friends to notice the change. Instead, they are looking for a softly softy approach to achieve a subtle, natural enhancement.’
The effect here is not the ‘trout lips’ look with an oversized bulging mouth that looks out of proportion and artificial. The current market leader in dermal filers is Restylane which has a success rate of well over four million treatments worldwide. Their pure, crystal-clear gel is a bio-technologically produced, tissue-friendly version of hyaluronic acid, a naturally occurring ‘plumping’ substance in the skin that tends to be lost through ageing.
And the results can make all the difference. Take Andrea Thompson, 58, who was left feeling ‘old and tired’ after a difficult year of aggressive chemotherapy to treat ovarian cancer. ‘The stress of my illness had really taken a toll on my skin and I’d aged dramatically. Surgery was the last thing I wanted to do. So I decided to find out about non-invasive treatment options that were within my budget.’
She consulted Marie Duckett and had four small treatments of Restylane over 12 weeks that smoothed out the lines around her mouth and nose as well as filling out the ‘marionette’ lines that droop down each side of the mouth, ageing the older lady. ‘What was done was quite small and difficult to say how I’d changed. But it’s made all the difference, it’s given me my confidence back,’ says Andrea who has now returned to work as a part-time London tour guide part-time and says the treatment has contributed to her overall recovery.
They want their lips to look a little fuller but still remain natural and soft. In Karen’s case, it was a matter of convincing her that restoring the lost volume to her cheeks could produce a subtle, yet effective enhancement that actually cannot be achieved by the scalpel alone.’
Factfile:
What is it?
Restylane is a crystal-clear gel produced biotechnologically using stabilized, non-animal hyaluronic acid and water. The hyaluronic acid is a tissue-friendly substance closely resembling the hyaluronic acid that occurs naturally in the body. By replenishing nature’s supply of hyaluronic acid, Restylane revitalizes and plumps up the skin, instantly diminishing the appearance of lines and giving a softer look.
How long does it last?
One of the great advantages of Restylane is that the effects are long lasting but not permanent.
*Facial lines and facial shaping: follow-up treatment is usually needed after 6-12 months
*Lip enhancement: follow-up treatment is normally needed in about 6 months
How much does Restylane cost?
Prices vary. Andrea and Dee paid around £500 for their treatment.
Where to go:
Find a practitioner at www. Restylane.co.uk
Or have a free consultation at:
London and the South East - Fiona & Marie Aesthetics Ltd www.Fionamarie.co.uk Tel: 0207 487 3032
The North West - Age Perfecting Treatments www.ageperfectingtreatments.com 0845 869 3244.
Click here to view previous editions of Looking Good in laterlife
View previous editions of Looking Good in laterlife
laterlife interest
The above article is part of the features section of laterlife.com
called
laterlife interest.
laterlife interest
contains a variety of articles of interest for visitors to
laterlife.com written by a number of experienced and new
journalists.
It includes both one off articles and also associated
regular columns of a more specialist nature such as
Healthwise,
Talkback,
Gardener's Diary,
and a beauty section called
Looking good
in later life.
There's also
'It could
be you' by Maggi Stamp laterlife's counsellor on human
relationships.
Also don't forget to take a look at our regular IT
question and answer section called
YoucandoIT
by IT trainer and author Jackie Sherman.
To view the latest articles click on
laterlife interest or to
view indexes to previous articles click on
laterlife interest index.
To search for articles about a certain topic, use the site search
feature at the top of the navigation.
|
