Holding back the years: Here’s why older women are undergoing ‘hand lifts’ SURGEONS claim more women are self conscious their hands don’t match their young faces – and are undergoing ‘hand lifts’ as a result. Hands are the ultimate age give-away. Despite countless facial beauty regimes, exercise diets, tummy tucks and face lifts, the hands are often neglected. As we age we lose muscle bulk and changing hormone levels also cause our hands to show the veins and bone. Cosmetic surgeon Dr David Jack said he has carried out three to four times as many procedures at his Harley Street clinic in the last few months as he completed the whole of the previous year. Middle aged and wealthy women between 40 and 60 are his most typical clients. The hand-lift procedure involves having fillers or fat pumped into the back of the hands to make them look fuller and hide the veins. Dr Jack said: “I generally do combination treatments, using the collagen-stimulating filler Ellansé to replace volume and disguise the veiny, tendinous appearance, with either peels or intense pulsed light to remove age spots.” The increasing attention that hand lifts are recieving on social media could be behind its recent popularity, he believes. Even celebrities such as Madonna, 57, and Nicole Kidman, 48, have fallen foul of having hands that don’t match the age of their youthful face. Consultant plastic surgeon, Fazel Fatah, says patients sometimes choose to have fat transferred from their thighs, stomach or other parts of their body, instead of using fillers. The method is more pricey at £3,500 per op but it is permanent, while fillers – which only last for two years – cost £450. Cosmetic surgery group Transform said it has also seen a rise in demand for the treatment. The company’s non-surgical director Anne Marie Gillett commented: “We find that patients come to us in their late 30s and 40s and have neglected their hands in the past and find this as a dead giveaway to their age.” Source
