For those who don’t want to go under the surgeon’s knife, non-surgical beauty treatments such as Botox, dermal fillers and teeth whitening are also popular gifts.

Part of the appeal is that the Christmas period is the ideal time to recover from a cosmetic procedure. Many are also asking for the procedures as they cannot justify splurging the cash on themselves over Christmas so are asking for their treatments as their main gift instead.

And it isn’t just women either – the number of men seeking cosmetic treatments has increased dramatically over the past few years and therefore it is no surprise that there are a good number of them who have requested some form of procedure as their Christmas present this year.

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The move has already been nicknamed ‘the boob tax’ and would see cosmetic procedure prices increase by 20 percent on procedures such as breast enlargements, liposuction and tummy tucks. At present, only minor treatments – such as Botox and chemical face peels – carried out in High Street Salons have been subject to VAT.

The only exception to the tax would be if the patient was having a cosmetic procedure for therapeutic reasons where a doctor or psychologist has identified that the patient has a medical condition (e.g. body dysmorphic disorder) or disfigurement.

Some cosmetic surgeons are worried that there will be grey areas when it comes to who has to pay VAT and who doesn’t. Some have questioned how easy it will be to distinguish between which procedures should be taxed and which shouldn’t. For example, should a child with really prominent ears who possibly could be bullied have the tax applied to their procedure? How large to breasts need to become before they are deemed to be a truly physical problem that can allow a treatment without the tax? What level of asymmetry would be deemed as a ‘disfigurement’?

A similar cosmetic surgery tax – which was nicknamed ‘Bo-tax’ – was introduced in the US by President Obama in 2009. However it was subsequently dropped after claims that it discriminated against patients who hailed from poorer backgrounds.

HMRC have claimed that the new tax is a change of policy – instead, they are saying that they are only clarifying the current situation which was set out in a 2007 document. A statement from HMRC reads, “there have been no changes to, nor are there any plans to change, the VAT liability of cosmetic services.

“Medical care provided by registered health professionals in hospitals or clinics is, and will continue to be, VAT-free, along with cosmetic services carried out for therapeutic purposes.

“Medical treatment for purely aesthetic reasons has been, and continues to be, liable to VAT at the standard rate.”

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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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Transpire Cosmetic Surgery will be sponsoring some of these cosmetic surgery parties later this month. The “My Big Fat Plastic Surgery Prize Draw” party requires a £25 ticket and will allow people to party whilst also winning cosmetic surgery prizes. Some of these prizes include Botox injections, filler injections, teeth whitening procedures, semi-permanent make-up and pole dancing lessons.

Dalvi Humzah, a leading cosmetic surgeon, has slammed the event calling it ‘irresponsible’ and ‘flawed’.

“We’re seeing an alarming amount of cosmetic surgery providers using marketing gimmicks and supermarket ‘buy one get one free’ offers to promote serious medical procedures,” Mr Humzah explained.

“The offer of a cosmetic treatment as a prize draw is completely irresponsible. Equally, the thought process of this whole scenario is professionally flawed and unrealistic.

“Patients need to be medically suitable and fit and healthy to undergo both surgical and non-surgical procedures. By offering a cosmetic procedure as a prize draw, you can not guarantee the winner is going to be suitable. Therefore, you should not be offering a prize which might not be accessible to the winner.

“More importantly, a party atmosphere with alcohol is a completely unacceptable setting for life changing cosmetic procedures to be put in the spotlight. Any patients making irreversible decisions in these circumstances are putting themselves at risk with the possibility of facing long-term consequences.”

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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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Earlier this year Harding was seen sporting plumper looking lips and a smooth forehead prompting many to claim that she had had lip fillers and Botox ahead of her wedding. Harding has now revealed that she did have lip fillers – which she had an allergic reaction to, hence the trout pout – however she has denied having any form of Botox.

“It’s not something I’m going to be trying again, or anything I would recommend to anyone else,” Harding told Fabulous magazine. “But, yeah, around Christmas I got a little bit experimental and decided to have some filler in my lips. Clearly that was a mistake.

“I was silly, it was a very silly thing to do. “It was a case of approaching my 30s and not feeling confident about that.

“It was something that was on my mind a lot.”

Harding also told the magazine that she had not had any Botox. “No Botox, thank you very much!” she commented.

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Superdrug, who are the UK’s second largest health & beauty high street retailer, are the only high street chain to offer cosmetic treatments. There are a range of treatments available – from eyebrow threading to manicures, anti-wrinkle injections to lip volumisers, leg thread vein removal to chemical peels.

The anti-wrinkle injections will cost £145 for one area of the face – around a third of the more normal price range. The initial consultation will be around 15 minutes long with treatment taking as little as 10 minutes. This means that patients will be able to have these anti-wrinkle injections during their lunchbreaks.

Some cynics believe that this is not a good move for the high street store. Superdrug had a trial beauty clinic in Brighton in 2007 however it closed after just six months. However Superdrug are convinced that they have learnt from the experience and the new service will be a hit.

Some health care professionals have also commented that people would be better off going to a specialised clinic. Talking to British newspaper the Daily Mail, London cosmetic surgeon Dr Michael Prager compared it to ‘going to the barber’s to have your hair cut, instead of a Nicky Clarke hair salon’.

He explained, “They both use scissors but you end up with completely different results.

“You get what you pay for with cosmetic surgery.

“Having Botox is not like having a flu jab – it very much depends on the skill of the practitioner carrying out the procedure.’

“There is not a large profit to be made from anti-wrinkle injections. I would imagine Superdrug wants a decent profit margin so, for just £145 per injection, I would question how much you are getting for your money.”

The first Superdrug ‘clinic’ opens in Kensington, London, later this week with a second one planned for Milton Keynes in the near future.

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However new research now shoes that cosmetic surgery to help smooth wrinkles on the forehead may have the unexpected side effect of also curing migraines.

Dr Bahman Guyuron from University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio noticed that patients who had surgery to smooth forehead wrinkles said their headaches were either improved or cured completely. 60 pc found that the headaches improved whilst 29 pc said that they had had no more migraines since surgery.

The technique consists of deactivating trigger sites in the muscles or nerves that produce pain. For most patients at least two trigger sites were targeted. The trigger sites were tested prior to surgery with Botox to confirm that the surgery would be in the correct places.

69 patients were evaluated and after five years, 88 pc of these had a positive long-term response to the surgery. Headaches were significantly decreased in 59 pc and completely eliminated in 29 pc. The remaining patients found no change.

Migraine attacks were less frequent after the surgery with the average migraine frequency decreased from about eleven to four per month. Also, when attacks occurred, they didn’t last as long with the average length of time reducing from 34 to eight hours.

Although this isn’t been heralded as a cure, it is an interesting step forward in migraine research. Although it doesn’t help everybody, it may be worth taking the gamble and paying for surgery for those people where migraines seriously affect their quality of life.

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Canadian scientists researched Botox injections in rabbits over an 18 month period. Their study, which has been published in the Journal of Biomechanics, found that limbs injected with Botox suffered from muscle wastage of up to 50%. The research also found that some limbs that had not been injected with Botox were also suffering from some muscle wastage. Until now, it has widely been assumed that Botox side effects were limited to around the injection side however this new research indicates that there may be more widespread effects than previously thought.

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