Although leg lengthening is not a new surgery, it has typically been used to help people who have limbs of unequal length or to help correct the medical condition dwarfism. However increasing numbers of people are now looking at leg lengthening surgery for cosmetic reasons.

The surgery is no breeze either – patients must be fit and healthy prior to the surgery and have strong bones. The operation itself usually lasts between 4 and 6 hours and patients although the average height gain is two and half inches, patients can gain up to 6 inches in height – although 4 inches is the maximum gain in a single operation.

The majority of patients undergoing the height-increasing cosmetic surgery are in their 20s and 30s. Around a third of these are women.

The operation itself sees a hole being drilled through the centre of the thigh bone from the top end. A surgical saw is then used to cut the bone in half at around the middle of the thigh. A telescopic rod is then inserted into the centre of the bone and secured using screws.

Once the incisions have been closed, each leg is turned inwards and outwards to lengthen the rod. The leg is elongated by 0.4 inches during the actual surgery and the patient must then click their own legs 15 times each way a day to give daily growth of 0.04 inches. This must be followed until the desired height is reached – however there are limits on the amount that the body can take and this will determine how long the patient will be able to lengthen their legs by.

Aside from the normal risks associated with invasive surgery, the daily clicking can cause pain and discomfort. This is because the muscles and the tendons need to stretch and adapt to their ‘new’ legs. Different patients will feel different levels of pain associated with the clicking procedure. There is also the danger that the bone will not heal properly or heal in an unusual shape that could see the bone become deformed.

The day after surgery, patients must start a rigorous exercise scheme that seems them beginning with cycling and stretching exercises. Initially, patients will have to walk with a frame however most will be able to walk with the aid of crutches about a fortnight to a month after surgery. The fittest patients will be able to walk normally after four months, although some patients may find their recovery time is a lot longer.

The bone itself will take around 8 months to fuse properly and it is at this point that most patients will be able to take up sports again. Around 18 months after the initial surgery, a second surgery takes place to remove the screws from the thigh bones.

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Stroma Medical, based in California, has patented a technique that uses a laser beam to change brown eyes to blue in a few weeks. Early trials have shown that patients brown irises changed colour to blue after being exposed to a targeted laser beam.

The cosmetic surgery is not yet available – further human tests are required to check the safety of the procedure and it is understood that some investment is still required to bring the product to market. It is hoped that the eye-colour changing surgery will be available in America in around 18 months time.

Dr Homer, the founder of Stroma Medical, has claimed that there is massive demand for the surgery and they comapny is receiving up to 300 enquiries a day. It is estimated that the surgery will cost around £3,000 to perform.

So how exactly does the iris-colour-changing technology work? The actual details remain a secret however it appears that the technology is similar to the lasers used to remove pigmentation from the skin.

A blue iris is not really blue – it is really an iris without colour and is a trick of perception, much the same as the sea which is not really blue; the ‘colour’ is down to scattered light. So by removing the pigment from a brown iris, the iris turns a blue colour.

Some experts are concerned over the long-term results of the surgery as it is unclear what damage or long-term side effects could be. The laser surgery is also irreverisble – there is currently no permanent way of changing blue eyes back to brown.

Although lasers are already used successfully for laser eye surgery, these lasers only affect the surface of the eye, the cornea. This new treatment to change the colour of the eyes appears to use lasers within the eye – and the more ‘inside’ the eye you go, the more potential damage can be done.

However Dr Homer has countered these concerns by saying that the laser will only target the pigment at the front of the iris and that there were no side-effects in the trial surgeries so far.

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Breast reductions in the past require quite major surgery. Also know as reduction mammoplasties, the procedure usually involves fat, tissue and skin being removed from the breasts before they are reshaped and the nipples repositioned. This sort of surgery means that patients are often left with quite hefty scars and because a general anaesthetic is used, a three night stay in hospital plus six weeks of recovery time is usually required.

The results from a traditional breast reduction are not always great either – there can be scarring, uneven results, plus all the complications associated with major surgery including infection and blood clots. Many women also lose some or all of the feeling in and around their nipples and many lose the ability to breast-feed.

However microlipo offers appears to offer a better alternative for some women looking to have their breasts reduced. As the name suggests, microlipo is similar to liposuction. A thin metal tube – known as a cannula – is inserted into the fat layer below the skin via a small incision. This cannula has two purposes – to break up the fat cells and suck them out.

During the microlipo procedure the cheat area is first disinfected with an iodine solution before a small cannula is inserted into around eight to ten points around the chest, injecting a local anaesthetic each time. Once the breast area is numb, another cannula is inserted to suck out the fat.

It is claimed that microlipo can reduce the cup size of a patient by up to four sizes.

After the microlipo procedure, the patient must wear a compression garment over the breast area to help reduce swelling and assist with the healing process.

The benefits of the microlipo procedure are clear – less down time, no general anaesthetic and less scarring.

Unfortunately the microlipo procedure is not suitable for all women. Any women with a family history of breast cancer may not be eligible as any scarring in the breast tissue may trigger changes that increase the risk of breast cancer. Women who are overweight are normally asked to try and lose some weight naturally as the breasts should reduce as weight is lost – although this is usually assessed on a case by case basis as a breast reduction may help larger women exercise more easily and therefore help them lose weight more quickly.

Any women who has loose skin in and around the breast area will also be advised not to have the surgery as reducing the volume of the breasts will only exacerbate this look.

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According to research by beauty brand Clinique, 43 per cent of women in the UK are concerned about pigmentation.

The term ‘hyperpigmentation’ covers a number of things including small areas of pigmentation such as freckles, sun spots and liver spots, through to much larger areas of darkened skin.

There are a number of causes to hyperpigmentation – the sun is probably the best known cause but there are other reasons for skin pigmentation. Melasma, which tends to be larger areas of pigmentation, can be brought on by oestrogen fluctuations – particularly when women experience the menopause, pregnancy or even from the contraceptive pill.

Hyperpigmentation can also be caused by damage to the skin – this is called ‘post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation.’ If you injure your skin – be it through a graze, burn or cut – when you go out into the sun the new skin area may turn a darker shade. This is because the trauma triggers melanin production in the skin.

The problem with pigmentation on the face is that it can be difficult to conceal well. Blotchy skin doesn’t reflect light as well and this makes the skin look dull. This means that pigmentation can age the face just as much as wrinkles and fine lines.

So what can you do to minimise the look of pigmentation? Laser treatments are the most effective and have come a long way in the last few years with treatments tending to be less painful than in the past.

Using lasers to treat skin pigmentation usually involves a hand laser being glided over the problem areas where tiny holes are made in the skin. These tiny holes then heal creating a fresh new layer of skin.

Some patients may find that this sort of treatment may cause post-inflammatory pigmentation. To counter this, red light lasers can be run over the skin to help get rid of the pigment cells.

It is imperative for patients looking to get rid of their skin pigmentation that they realise that lasers can leave the skin vulnerable to UV damage – and this in turn can exacerbate pigmentation. For anyone who has had laser treatment, it is important that a protective cream with a high SPF in it is used daily to ensure the skin is protected at all times.

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If you are unhappy with the shape of your belly button it is possible to have cosmetic surgery to change its shape.

Your belly button is basically scar tissue. After birth, the umbilical cord is clamped and over the next week or so, the remaining part of the cord falls off and leaves the belly button. The umbilical cord is designed to pass through a small opening in the baby’s abdominal muscles. This opening should close before birth but if the muscles don’t grow together a weakness can form and this can cause a small hernia, creating a protruding belly button.

Quite often, ‘outies’ will turn to ‘innies’ over time therefore the majority of people have ‘innies’ by the time they reach toddler age. Very few adults will have outies as the hernia tends to get operated on as a child.

Occasionally, an innie may turn into an outie in adulthood thanks to stress on the abdominal wall – being overweight and lifting heavy objects are two factors that increase this risk. Pregnant women also sometimes find their belly button pops out but it normally pops back in again after birth.

For those who don’t like the look of their navels, there is a procedure called a ‘umbilicoplasty’ which will help to fix the issue. Most commonly the umbilicoplasty is done in conjunction with a tummy tuck however it is possible to have it done on it’s own.

Usually the umbilicoplasty is performed under local anaesthetic and normally takes between 30 minutes and 3 hours to perform. As the incisions are typically made inside the belly button itself, there is little visible scarring.

(Photo Credit: Arnout Van Scherpenzeel)

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HGH popularity has surged over the past few years and many Hollywood stars are thought to have tried the treatment. HGH is sold under a variety of names including Saizen, Genotropin, Norditropin, Humatrope, Zomacton and Nutropin aq. Rock star Robbie Williams has admitted that he strongly considered Human Growth Hormone injections after he discovered they could help improve his health, memory, hair and skin – although Williams eventually plumped for a course of testosterone injections instead.

The major role of HGH is to boost growth during childhood. By the mid-30s, natural HGH production in the body begins to slow and devotees of HGH injections claim that by topping up these levels, it helps to slow down the ageing process.

However HGH injections are not cheap. Priced at up to £1,200 a month, the cost is incredibly high leading many devotees to buy their HGH over the internet from abroad. One of the risks of doing this is that the quality control may not be there – and the substances may not even be HGH at all. Counterfeit drugs are a real problem and some injections may be contaminated with other substances and this in turn can lead to serious health issues.

HGH is actually not licensed as an anti-ageing drug either. Some studies have suggested that injections of HGH can help the body to heal itself more quickly and improve athletic performance however critics claim that the results are over-exaggerated. The jury is still out, at least from a scientific point of view, over how effective HGH really is.

The side effects of HGH injections also raise some concerns. Research has shown that high levels can lead to problems such as soft tissue swelling, abnormal growth of the face, hands and feet, high blood pressure, blood clots, diabetes, increased sweating, and excessive hair growth. even more worryingly, organs such as the heart, liver and kidneys may also start to grow and this can lead to life-threatening issues. Recent studies have also indicated that the risk of cancer may also increase.

So are HGH injections really the miracle cure for anti-ageing? The jury is still out on whether HGH really is as good as some people claim and with some worryingly serious side effects to the injections, it may be worth waiting until more studies appear on the efficacy and long-term side effects before you take the plunge.

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For people looking to reduce the look of crow’s feet on their face, it is a minefield trying to decide which beauty treatment to go for. Two of the more popular treatments are Botox and Dysport. Both Dysport and Botox are botulinium toxins, with Botox having been around for longer. In a study published in the Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, the two injectables were compared to discover which was better overall.

90 people were selected to take part in a 30 day trial where both medications were used – one was injected into the right side of the face, and the other into the left side.

The study showed that when the facial muscles were at rest there was no discernable difference between the two products. However Dysport was found to be more effective at reducing crow’s feet wrinkles when the subject was smiling than Botox.

Doctors overseeing the study said that the injection sites were deliberately placed far away enough from each other to ensure that the agents could not affect each other’s results. By injecting both substances into every person, it also ensured that all variables such as age, gender and ethnicity were removed.

Although the results are mildly in favour of Dysport, it should be noted that the results are not definitive. The study was only of a small handful of people and to determine absolutely which substance is better, a much larger, well-controlled, double blind head-to-head trial would need to be done. The study also did not take into account the long-term efficacy of the substances – both are purported to last for several months before top-up injections are required therefore a longer-term trial may show different results. A study on different wrinkles other than just crow’s feet may also have produced different results.

Although the study provides an interesting comparison between Dysport and Botox, the results are by no mean final and more research is required to determine which product really is better. At this stage, it is probably less important for a patient to worry about whether to choose Dysport or Botox and instead focus on finding a reputable surgeon as how well the injections are administered can make a massive difference to the results of the treatment.

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Botox is now such a popular procedure that some people are using it in their twenties (and, more shockingly, some women are giving their children Botox) to help prevent wrinkles from appearing. However Dr Darren McKeown believes that if Botox injections are started too young, they could actually help speed up the ageing process rather than slow it down.

“There is no evidence that in the long term Botox works as a preventative, nor is there any licence to use it as such,” he writes in the Daily Telegraph. “The drug works on wrinkles by relaxing the muscles responsible for expression lines and is licensed only for the treatment of moderate to severe frown lines.

“Starting Botox treatments at an early age ultimately could do more harm to your looks than good. While [Elizabeth] Taylor was clearly always a beautiful woman from her teens onwards, arguably her looks did not reach their peak until she was in her mid-thirties. Had Botox been available to Taylor in her early twenties, would she ever reached that same level of mature beauty for which she will now always be remembered? I suspect probably not.”

It is not the first time that queries have been raised about the long-term efficacy of Botox – last year, we reported that some cosmetic surgeons were starting to note that devotees of the injections were giving themselves extra wrinkles. By freezing certain muscles, others will often start to be used as the body starts to compensate and this will often cause new wrinkles. The most common set of ‘new’ wrinkles are ‘bunny lines’ on the face, so called because if you wrinkle your nose like a bunny, this area of the nose scrunches up.

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In the past, women looking to enhance the look of the breasts generally only had one option – a mastoplexy, more commonly known as a boob job. However Botox may now be a non-surgical option to help womens’ breasts look more pert.

The ‘Botox breast lift’ is said to be much cheaper than a it’s surgical alternative, and promises instant results, no recovery time required and is said to have no side effects.

Botox is most commonly known for its use in combatting wrinkles on the face. However because the toxin is injected into the muscle, paralyzing it, there are common side effects such as a ‘droopy’ look to the face. The Botox breast lift is slightly different in that the Botox injections are into the skin rather than the muscle. As the muscles around the breast area are not frozen, there is no loss os sensation in the area.

The Botox Breast Lift Procedure
Patients should expect a local anaesthetic cream to be applied to the breasts and the surrounding area. Botox is then administered via injection in and around all the breasts. It is important that the Doctor injects Botox all around the breast itself, including the front of the chest all the way to the armpits, to achieve the best effect.

Small injections of Botox are also applied to the areola (the coloured part of the nipple).

It is claimed that the injections will leave no bruising and will not cause any pain. The lack of surgical incisions means that the injections can be done over a lunch-time so no down-time is required.

Results from the Botox breast lift should be instantly visible, however it may take a few days for the full lifting and smoothing effect to become visible. A top-up treatment three weeks after the initial treatment is advised however it is not mandatory.

Initial results have shown that patients can expect breasts to be lifted by up to two centimetres with the volume of the breast increasing by up to 10 percent.

The longevity of the results will vary from person to person however repeat treatments are expected to be required every 6 months.

Women with larger cup sizes are cautioned that the technique is probably not for them – larger breasts may be too heavy for the treatment to have any effect. Therefore anyone who has a cup size larger than a ‘C’ may find this Botox treatment ineffective.

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Many women will reach for the fake tan and ensure their nails are painted beautifully however many will still have hang-ups over particular parts of their bodies – perhaps the veins in the hands stand out too much or their feet look too bony.

Although dermal fillers are most well known for use on the face, many women are now turning to them to ensure that all parts of the body look smooth and plump to give them a better beach body.

Injectable fillers can be used to plump out most areas on the body. Aside from the face, the most popular areas are the feet (to plump them out and stop them looking bony), the hands (to plump them out and make them look more youthful) and the knees (to pad out droppy looking knees). Other areas where these fillers can be used are in the armpit creases, the crepey skin area on the chest/decolletage, and the inner side of the upper arm.

The injectable filler is the same concoction as that used on the face – a hyaluronic based acid. These fillers are said to help stimulate the skin’s natural collage helping to improve firmness.

For those who would prefer not to have an ‘alien’ substance in their bodies, fat transfers can also be used to much the same effect. The body’s own fat cells can be extracted and injected into specific areas to help fill, smooth and sculpt. Some of the most popular areas include the bottom and thighs to help minimse the look of cellulite, the breasts, and the bottom area. However the fat transfer option is significantly more expensive than the injectable filler option.

Some cosmetic surgeons are not enthused about this new fad for injecting filler in large quantities into the body. For the face, around 1-3 ml is normally used; for the body, much larger quantities are generally required. Even small amounts of filler can cause lumps or granulomas (big bumps) under the skin so larger injections mean there is the possible risk of the skin taking on a really uneven, lumpy look – a look which is usually far worse than the original “problem”.

There are also currently no long-term studies on the effects of having large quantities of filler injected into the body therefore potential patients need to be aware before having the fillers injected.

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