6 hours agoShareSaveRuth CleggHealth and wellbeing reporterShareSavesydney brownIt was Sydney Brown’s mother who first noticed her frown line. A couple of years ago, the pair were video calling when her mum pointed out a crease between her daughter’s eyebrows.They decided it was the right time for Sydney, then 23, to start having anti-wrinkle injections.Now 25, Sydney has had both botox and lip filler. She is happy with her decision, and says she and her friends will do “whatever it takes” to feel more confident and “look their best”. If that comes in the shape of cosmetic surgery – so be it.Sydney’s mum, Dr Hayley Brown, an award-winning plastic surgeon based in Las Vegas, regularly injects small amounts of botox into her daughter’s forehead.She says her daughter looks less tired, feels more confident and, Dr Brown believes, won’t need more invasive surgery to smooth out deeper lines later in life.Using anti-wrinkle injections in the way Sydney does is known as “preventative botox”. Botox users in their 20s and early 30s hope to prevent lines forming in the first place, or to target a crease before it becomes a wrinkle.The ageing process is inevitable, but are preventative cosmetic treatments a savvy way of holding on to our youth? Or are we just injecting thousands of pounds into an industry that’s profiting from our insecurities?I have spoken to both users and experts in the hope of finding an answer.Dr Hayley BrownThe less you contract your muscle, the less your skin creases, reducing the appearance of wrinkles. But what was once reserved for the ageing wealthy, or the elusive world of celebrities, has now reached the foreheads of 20-somethings across the UK.Around 900,000 botox injections are carried out in the UK every year. Worldwide, the percentage of 18 to 34-year-olds opting for cosmetic tweaks is growing, making up nearly a quarter of the clientele. In a brightly lit clinic in Prestwich, north Manchester, Dr Javed Hussain, a doctor and medical director of his company, Neo Derm, is preparing to treat his next client, 26-year-old Ven Grecu, who has been coming for botox for the past two years.He listens intently as Ven explains where he wants his treatment. When his client lifts his eyebrows up, his skin creases as he points at various areas.Poised with the needle, Dr Hussain warns: “You will feel a short, sharp scratch…. there we go, over in seconds.”Ven barely flinches.With a slightly reddened forehead, Ven turns his head to speak to me. “I know I’m young,” he says, “But it’s not an age factor. I’m having this as a way of preventing wrinkles.”Not having them makes me feel so confident, it helps me in my job, and I want to age gracefully.”Ruth clegg/BBCSo far, Ven, a business development manager, has spent thousands of pounds on treatment, but “it’s an investment in my confidence and it’s worth every penny”, he says.But if a wrinkle isn’t yet there, then how does having botulinum toxin injected into your face impede the ageing process?”It doesn’t stop you from ageing,” Dr Hussain explains, “but it does slow down its progress”.Dr Hussain says that, by targeting the dynamic wrinkles – the temporary creases we create when we make a facial expression – static lines are reduced in the long run.”By relaxing the muscles that contract, we are reducing the number of times the skin wrinkles.”That, in turn, prevents the lines from getting so deep.”The practitioner says he is seeing an increase in the number of 18 and 19-year-olds coming in for treatment and, despite it being legal to inject anyone over the age of 18, he does turn them away.”I’ve had some girls come in asking for b …
