FACING THE FUTURE

No scalpels or filler overload were things Charlotte Cripps was certain about when she went for cutting-edge treatment designed to rejuvenate the face. But would she go further?

- Charlotte Cripps

I am sitting in a big, snuggly armchair in a Harley Street waiting room about to have a cutting-edge non-surgical facelift. I've been told it won't be an instant fix, but in a few months the magic will happen: I will look more youthful, with dewy, plump and taut-looking skin. This is Morpheus8, a non-surgical, collagen-boosting and skin-tightening treatment that's become the facelift du jour in fashion and celebrity circles.

A whole new world is opening up to me. I just hope I don't take cosmetic surgery too far. I really don't want to end up with a trout pout, or with a face that looks caught in a wind tunnel. Or even like someone permanently sucking in their cheeks - that'd be the result of buccal fat removal, a surgical trend currently sweeping the influencer world, in which doctors hollow out your cheeks until your face looks angular and chiselled.

Instead, I just want to look refreshed, and I've ruled out any addons. My doctor, David Jack, has celebrities and fashionistas queuing up around the block, and believes in the ethos that less is more. He looks reassuringly normal as a result, having personally tried out all of the treatments he now offers his patients those being the most effective. I ask him to name the biggest mistake women make when they seek surgical intervention. "Trying to look younger," he replies. "It never works!"

I've been told by a handful of friends that Morpheus8 is the new gold standard in non-invasive facelifts. It works by microinjuring the subdermis layers of the skin, stimulating collagen and in turn tightening and lifting your face. Collagen decreases with age, contributing to skin wrinkling and sagging. So this is a bit like bathing in the fountain of youth, with the recuperation time only a day and the results lasting three years. Dr Jack also tells me, through gleaming white teeth, that it also wards off the need for a surgical facelift, which sits well with me.