Cosmetic procedures: Pros and cons

This is the Viels' verdict on just a few of the procedures you can have done:

•Enhancement of the buttocks: for when you've dieted so much that they've sagged. A good exercise programme is better.

•Fat transplant from anywhere in your body to anywhere else: for example, from your thighs to your hands, because some say hands always tell your age, or from your thighs to facial lines. Maurizio has had this done on himself (along with Botox) and was pleased with the results.

•Thread lift: a facelift without invasive surgery. Up to 16 threads are inserted with a fine needle to lift brows, mid-face and neck. Ideal for people who want to wait until age 55 for a classic facelift.

•Certain actresses claim never to have had cosmetic surgery yet look far younger than could reasonably be expected. Now you know.

•Breast reduction: can improve quality of life hugely, say the Viels, but it is major surgery.

•Breast lift: a good effective procedure, but full points to the Viels for showing the unsightly scars in the "after" picture on page 189.

•Breast augmentation: a "great operation and very rewarding" if the look is kept natural.

•Lip augmentation: a "great, easy treatment" but don't have permanent fillers or implants.

•Eyebag removal: lower eye recontouring can rejuvenate the face but must be conservative to avoid the sunken eye look. Fat injections could be simpler and more rewarding.

•Upper eye lift: a "great procedure" that will rejuvenate the face even when performed on its own.

•Thigh lift: too much scarring and the effect doesn't last. Try liposuction and a toning programme instead.

•Autologous cell therapy: a sample of your own cells is taken, then injected back to supposedly promote the production of collagen. The small improvement produced doesn't justify the cost.

•Thermage: radio frequencies warm the collagen in the dermis, which tighten and thus lift and contour the skin. Lasts five years. It's going to be big in the future.