The rise of silver surgery

Jan 17 2008 by Emma Pinch, Liverpool Daily Post

A touch of nip and tuck is no longer the preserve of the young. Emma Pinch reports

COSMETIC surgery among the over-60s is generally illustrated by a string of stars whose relentlessly refreshened looks tell a cautionary tale. Think Joan Rivers with her vacuum-packed visage and catlike stare, Priscilla Presley, whose waxy mask makes her daughter look decrepit by comparison, and Farrah Fawcett, whose trademark mega-watt smile has tightened into a startled grimace.

Wrinkle-free, yes, but more cryogenic than photogenic.

When pictures of celebs like these are wheeled out, the message is loud and clear. Cosmetic surgery is the preserve of the young and the middle young, not the 60-plus pack, although few would argue that Cher, 62, looks pretty good, and Sharon Osbourne, 55, has an excellent surgeon on speed dial.

Discreetly, though, hundreds of thousands of men and women over that milestone age are slipping through the doors of the cosmetic surgery clinic – twice as many last year as in 2004. Rather than a Jordan-esque boob inflation, they’re going for subtler surgeries like eye-lifts and tummy tucks, to make the stranger staring back at them in the mirror better reflect the youngster inside.

A recent poll by Saga showed a quarter of women over-50 and one in 10 men aged over-50 have had or would be willing to have some kind of cosmetic surgery.

While breast enlargements was the most popular treatment among the young, among the over- 50s eyelifts (15%) and facelifts (12%), tummy tucks (11%), liposuction (8%) then breast reductions (4%) were the most popular surgeries.

“Years ago, people thought cosmetic surgery was just for younger people, or the very rich,” says Mairie Jenkins, Birkdale Clinic Group patient co-ordinator. “Now it’s more acceptable among older people, and their children are encouraging them to go for it.

“They may have been unhappy with their noses all their lives, they’ve wanted a breast reduction since they stopped having children, but haven’t had the confidence or the money. Or they’re suddenly back on the dating market and are re-evaluating their looks.”

Eye lifts and face lifts made the biggest difference to the older client, says Mairie. Less effective for a firmer look in your 50s and 60s is liposuction alone, and after 68 Botox is not generally useful. “The stretched look of some celebrities is usually because they want more before they need it, and have a monthly appointment with their surgeon.

“You won’t suddenly look 30 again, but that’s not the look most people want.”

Eileen Dixon, a 68-year-old former teacher from Heswall, had an upper and lower eyelift a year ago, and says friends having work done convinced her to take the plunge. “I was getting on a bit, but I didn’t feel my age when I looked in the mirror. And I was fed up of people telling me I looked tired all the time, which makes you feel worse.” After the operation, she went into hibernation for a week.

“It’s the best thing I’ve done. It’s a confidence thing. You look in the mirror and it does give you a bit of your youth back.”

Healthwise, each case is decided on its merits, but common ailments such as high blood pressure and diabetes are not necessarily bars to most procedures, providing doctors have a complete picture of their health and medications.

Before embarking on cosmetic surgery, Mairie advises updating your total look.

“Looking better really has to be the whole package. If you’ve still got a perm from 20 years ago, whatever you have done is not going to make such a difference. It may be that a more youthful hair-cut, and make-up and clothes to enhance your figure and skin tone, make more of a difference than you imagine.”

* FOR more information about procedures, see www.birkdaleclinic.co.uk or freephone 0800 195 8784.

If it makes you feel better, do it

MOTHER-OF-TWO Paulette Houghton, (pictured above), 63, had a breast augmentation and uplift just before Christmas at the Transform clinic, and three years ago had a facelift.

"I was talking about having it done for three years," she explains. "In a matter of weeks, after I had surgery that affected my hormones my breasts went from a bouncy 36D to 36B. They just disappeared, and I had to keep tucking what was left into my bra 20 times a day. I’d taken a loan out on my house and I thought, ‘make yourself happy and do it’. I didn’t feel in the least guilty about spending the money on myself."

She had her bust boosted back up to a 36D, and uplifted after consultations at Transform’s Crosby clinic and a day-case operation at Transform Abbey Pines Hospital in Manchester.

"I didn’t have a fraction of pain, after the operation, but in the first 10 days they were quite solid," she says. "Now they look perfectly natural. Even though I told everybody, only one or two people have commented. I’m over the moon, and I don’t worry if people think it’s vain. If it makes you feel better, do it."

TRANSFORM Cosmetic Surgery, 0500 59 59 59/ www.transforming lives.co.uk

emma.pinch@dailypost.co.uk