“The best version of you”; “The confidence you deserve”; “Age refined”; “Fight the signs of ageing”—I challenge you to go on social media or open a glossy magazine and avoid similar exhortations, which are usually selling something.
This isn’t about clothes, haircuts, or nail varnish but about cosmetic medicine. It used to be a medical fringe activity, the stuff of rent-by-the-hour clinics in Harley Street. Now these messages are mainstream, coming from GPs and dentists who do some NHS clinics mixed with some private aesthetics. The result is numerous private clinics, operated by healthcare professionals. The outcome: wouldn’t a bit of filler, botox, or non-surgical enhancement, with some pseudoscientific mumbo-jumbo-ology, suit nicely?