by Phil Rostron

Last updated 16:58, Wednesday, 22 October 2008

The trouble with being a gnarled old hack is the patently obvious ageing process that is manifest in your face.

Phil Rostron

Lines criss-cross your features like a map of the London Underground; your eyes are dim from constant flirtation with the computer; teeth have yellowed from years of smoking and drinking.

There comes a time when you look in the mirror and shriek in horror. You’re morning shaving and there in the mirror is Son of Frankenstein.

At 57 and with my best years well and truly behind me it would have been easy, nay desirable, to have thrown in the towel.

But then, with the girls in the office so at ease with their personas and lukewarm at best about the prospect, when the chance came along to get a little pamper here and a little pander there, I couldn’t resist the temptation to take the plunge.

And it was at this stage that I put my well-being into the hands of Absolute Image, the Newcastle-upon-Tyne based cosmetic treatment specialists who are now conducting twice-monthly sessions in Carlisle at the Campbell and Wilson dental practice in Aglionby Street.

An initial consultation with Ann Pullan and Jill Tait ascertains the extent of the damage and its retrievability and I’m asked by Ann about the depth of my knowledge about Botox.

I tell her I’ve seen Leslie Ash’s trout pout but know little else about it, but with an assurance that my crow’s feet and sundry other divots and crevasses would benefit I agreed to give it a try.

You’ll be familiar with that “sharp scratch” warning from nurses who take blood samples and give injections and this was very similar, with nothing more than a minor discomfort to report.

The results are pretty much instantaneous, with a result akin to a hot iron being dashed across a crumpled garment.

A bit of Botox here and a bit of filler there and suddenly the wife had a new man to look at.

“You’d be surprised how many men are going in for this sort of thing now,” confides Ann who, with Jill has three decades of joint experience in the field of cosmetic treatments.

Whether the customer is looking for non surgical treatments like wrinkle smoothing injections, dermal fillers, skin peels, thread vein removal or cosmetic surgery, their aim is to provide friendly professional advice enabling the correct choice of treatment to be made and tailored to individual needs.

“Factors such as sun exposure, smoking, stress, environmental pollution and the body’s natural ageing process will all take their toll and eventually leave their mark,” says Ann.

“But nowadays sophisticated cosmetic treatments designed to rejuvenate your facial appearance and combat the signs of ageing are gaining worldwide popularity in both men and women of all ages.

“By combining the best non-surgical solutions these facial rejuvenation procedures work to enhance the natural beauty of your skin.”

It was Campbell and Wilson’s Ian Wilson, a highly personable, vastly experienced professional who was to undertake part two of the Remaking of the Gnarled Old Hack.

“Smile and the world smiles with you” is one of those feelgood phrases in life that many people are reluctant to indulge in because of their embarrassment over their less-than-perfect teeth.

Yet plenty can be done about this.

After an initial consultation and a couple of visits to the hygienist comes the real business of putting the white back into your teeth and it is here that Ian uses a product called BriteSmile.

It is a procedure, developed by a former NASA scientist, that can be done in about an hour and a half and involves a gentle whitening gel activated by a special, patented light operating in a “blue spectrum.” It is totally pain-free and, in my case, produced a whiteness 10 shades lighter than the one I had started out with.

Says Ian: “In all the years I’ve been doing this – and we’ve been at this present location since 1981 – I’ve witnessed only one failure. It’s of benefit to everybody and the run-up to Christmas is the most popular time for people – both men and women – to have it done.

“It must be all those parties!”

A recent report released by the Harley Medical Group has shown that the numbers of male cosmetic surgery procedures have more than doubled over the past five years.

Men over 50 have apparently been particularly active, with large numbers looking to undertake cosmetic surgery in order to maintain their overall appearance.

Liposuction has proved to be the most popular operation, with more than 24 per cent of all male cosmetic surgery procedures involving men looking to remove the areas of fat that have been most resistant to exercise and dieting.

Other popular cosmetic surgery procedures for men include blepharoplasty or eyelids (21 per cent), facelifts (14 per cent) and rhinoplasty or nose jobs (11 per cent). A spokesman expands: “With today’s society increasing the pressures on both men and women to maintain a high level of fitness and appearance, these trends seem set to continue.

“And with recent reports showing an overall growth in the numbers of cosmetic surgery procedures, it seems that society is developing a more thorough acceptance of cosmetic surgery as a means to maintain a more healthy and youthful appearance.”

With the American male grooming market now worth $3.5billion, men seem to be changing their attitude about a number of issues that seemed previously to be the preserve of women.

Feeling the need to look youthful and appear dynamic well into your 40s, 50s and 60s has led to men re-thinking their attitudes to pills, diet, exercise, face-care products and cosmetic surgery.

Men increasingly want to change the things they don’t like to see in the mirror and statistics available from the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery show that surgery is becoming increasingly popular with men as a way to deal with image maintenance and change.

In the US the top five men’s cosmetic surgery procedures are nose reshaping, hair transplantation, eyelid surgery, liposuction and, surprisingly, breast reductions.

Fourteen per cent of Botox injections, 15 per cent of all liposuction and eyelid surgeries, 20 per cent of laser hair removal and 24 per cent of nose jobs are carried out on men. And cosmetic surgery and related procedures in the US recently increased 32 per cent to 8.7million with Botox anti-wrinkle injection treatments being the most popular.

So is all of this vanity-inspired or merely a way of looking after yourself?

Well there is no doubt that having fewer lines on your face and a fresh white smile does plenty for your self-confidence at a stage in life when it might be easier to just give up. Go on! Never say die!

Botox costs about £150 per area, which is defined as crow’s feet, frown line or brow.

Call Absolute Image on 0191 260 5222 or visit the website www.absolute-image.co.uk Call Ian Wilson’s dental surgery (Campbell and Wilson) on 01228 532980.