Farewell Botox and hello to ultrasound

LONDON - The new way to roll back the years involves no needles: just painless ultrasound waves.

Growing numbers of Britons are shunning conventional treatments such as Botox injections and facelifts for a new facial technique known as Environ.

It involves having super-high concentrates of vitamins forced deep into the skin by a combination of ultrasound and electronic pulses, resulting in 40 times the penetration of conventional facials.

Fans of the procedure have likened the improvements to a mini-facelift.

Sales of the equipment used, costing £5000 ($14,600), have risen by more than 90 per cent in the UK over the past 12 months, and it can now be found in hundreds of clinics.

Television presenter Mariella Frostrup is a convert, describing Environ as the best facial she has found and "a quick fix for glowing skin".

"Its positive effects last for days," she says. "The process includes a wax mask and electric currents being sent across your face - but don't be put off. It's highly relaxing."

Last year more than 22,000 cosmetic surgical procedures were carried out in Britain, an increase of more than a third on the previous year.

However, the number of non-surgical procedures are also increasing, according to Rajiv Grover, of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons. "The boom in the cosmetic surgery industry is most definitely driving the trend and demand for non-surgical procedures."

Increasingly, people who have used or considered Botox are worried about possible side-effects, including developing fresh wrinkles as they change expressions to compensate for the paralysis in parts of their faces. And reports of plastic surgery disasters are also prompting people to avoid scalpels or needles.

- INDEPENDENT