Facing the facts about facial fillers

THE pressure to look younger has never been greater. But several leading Irish plastic consultants are worried that Irish women and men are being used as “guinea pigs’’ by opting for cheap, quick-fix anti-ageing procedures.

Dr Patrick Treacy, medical director of the Ailesbury Clinic, Dublin, says the number of patients who have asked for help following adverse reactions to the permanent or semi-permanent fillers injected into their faces has dramatically increased during the last few years.

“I have seen some pretty horrendous cases, far worse than Leslie Ash’s trout pout. I had an awful run last winter, with 13 cases in the space of six months — four from the same doctor,’’ he says.