Teenager, 17, is given longer legs after surgeons implant MAGNETS into her bones in pioneering procedure to correct deformity

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Sophie Lewis can now walk thanks to a pioneering operation that involves using magnets to lengthen bones

A teenager has been given pioneering treatment using magnets to slowly lengthen her right leg.
Until recently Sophie Lewis, 17, struggled to walk because of a pelvic deformity and curved spine that has left her in crippling pain.
But after becoming the youngest patient in the UK to undergo a new treatment, Miss Lewis is quickly gaining independence and recovering well.
Surgeons have fitted a telescopic rod in her right thigh which will slowly lengthen and extend the limb by 6cm.
The metal rod is controlled by magnets and Sophie must use a remote control at home to gradually lengthen her leg by 1mm each day.
She will repeat the procedure 60 times, eventually adding 6cm to her leg to correct her deformity and the rod will be removed in a year’s time.
Ms Lewis, who lives with optical assistant mother Karen, 43, electrician father Garry, 51, and younger brother Matthew, 13, explained the groundbreaking operation.
She said that inside the rod is a magnetic gear, and when she hovers her magnet above her
right kneecap, the magnets repel one another, which twists and pulls the rod apart to extend the leg by 1mm a day.
Miss Lewis, from Grimsby in Lincolnshire, is so delighted with her progress and the work of doctors at Sheffield Children’s Hospital she now wants to study to become an orthopaedic surgeon.
She said: 'I was worried and excited because I knew I was the youngest person to have this surgery but I had a lot of confidence in the surgeon.
'The doctors decided it was better for me to have this operation because I’m hoping to be a spinal surgeon so I’ll spend the majority of my time standing up.
'If they lengthen my leg it will mean the pain should subside everywhere else.
'I did want to be a dance teacher but then I got really interested in orthopaedic surgery and now I’d like to be a surgeon.
'We’ve been to conferences and met a few people who know about my condition but no one has seen anything like it.
'The doctors in Sheffield have been fantastic and I’m really glad they recommended me for this operation so I can beat the pain.'
Until recently Miss Lewis took 13 painkillers a day because of her disability.
She had a twisted sacrum - the large, triangular bone at the base of the spine - and was left with one hip almost touching her rib cage.

The metal rod is controlled by magnets and Sophie uses a scanner at home to gradually lengthen her leg by 1mm each day. She will repeat the procedure 60 times, eventually adding 6cm to her leg to correct her deformity and the rod will be removed in a year¿s time

In addition to this, her legs were not aligned correctly and were tilted to the opposite side.
She said: 'I've had to live with the pain gradually getting worse for years so when the operation came up, it completely changed my life.
'I've had problems since birth and I realised that I always had a short leg but did nothing about it.
'When I was 13, I had a 3D scan performed which then made me realise that my pelvis was deformed.
'The pain gradually got worse, and in my teenage years the pain has become as bad as ever.
'It was constant and was taking a toll on my breathing. Sometimes I physically couldn't take anymore.
'I had to give up doing P.E. in school in Year 8, and had to give up dancing.'
Surgeons inserted the rod in a four-hour operation after breaking her upper leg bone but left just six tiny scars.
The rod, called the Precise Intramedullary Limb Lengthening System, has been used in the U.S. but never before in someone so young.
Just 330 of the operations have been carried out across the globe and only ten have been performed in the UK, all on adults.
The procedure reduces pain and scarring and means the patient can be up and about quicker after surgery.
Orthopaedic surgeon James Fernandes said: 'It’s been fantastic to be able to perform this operation on the youngest person so far.
'This new technology we’re using is very advanced. We are starting to be able to use this on patients who are younger and younger.
'Our centre is known internationally for its orthopaedic work.
'We advise and treat hundreds of children every year with limb abnormalities and are a major centre for training the next generation of paediatric orthopaedic surgeons.
'Hopefully now we can treat more children in this way reducing the pain and recovery time.'

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Woman, 22, suffers with condition that makes her emotional after touching certain textures

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A young woman suffers with a condition that causes her to experience extreme emotional reactions to certain textures.
The unnamed 22-year-old, known only as 'AW', was a patient of Dr Vilayanur Ramachandran, a leading neuroscientist based at the the University of California in San Diego.
In a recent article, he and his colleagues have revealed details of the patient who found that touching denim left her depressed and disgusted while contact with silk made her happy and contented.

Disgusting: The woman referred to only as AW feels depressed if she comes into contact with denim fabric

Touching corduroy left her confused, leather aroused feelings of receiving criticism, multi-coloured toothpaste made her feel anxious, wax made her feel embarrassed, paracetomol tablets left her feeling jealous and different grades of sandpaper made her feel either guilt, relief, or as if she was telling a white lie.

THE CONFUSED WORLD OF A SYNESTHESIA SUFFERER

Synesthesia is a condition in which one sense is simultaneously perceived as if by one or more additional senses such as sight.
Another form of synesthesia joins objects such as letters, shapes, numbers or people's names with a sensory perception such as smell, colour or flavour.
Around four per cent of people are thought to have the condition which is eight times more common in women.
Most synesthesists tend to be left-handed.
There are no dangerous side-effects to the having the condition
Famous synesthesists include Marilyn Monroe, Mary J Blige as well as the artists Kandinsky and Hockney.

After numerous tests, doctors concluded that AW suffered from a brain condition known as synaesthesia in which one sense produces a reaction from another sense because pathways in the brain are muddled. 
To compare reactions, Dr Vilayanur Ramachandran and his colleague Dr David Brang then tested another 20-year-old synesthesia suffer referred to as HS.

HS felt no real emotion when touching denim but was disgusted instead by the texture of fleece and wax.
Corduroy made her feel disappointed; bok choy made her feel irritated, but smooth metal made her feel sedated and calm.

He reported: 'In this subject, the strongest emotion was evoked when she touched soft leather, which made her feel extremely scared – she described the sensation as “making my spine crawl.”'

Sandpaper makes the anonymous synesthesia patient feel either guilt, relief, or as if she was telling a white lie

The scientists have reported in the journal Neurocase that the condition might have its roots in man's evolution.
They wrote: 'Our primate ancestors may have evolved unconscious mechanisms for predicting the potential of an object to cause harm.
'Thus, tactile sensations which may be beneficial to survival (such as soft furs, for example, which provide warmth) may activate the parts of the limbic system mediating pleasure, whereas others which may be harmful (such as jagged stones) may be connected to those areas mediating aversion.'

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Now there's an app that tells you - by monitoring how much you move and how noisy you are

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If you've ever questioned whether your sexual performance is up to par, then wonder no more.
A new iPhone app called Spreadsheets offers an incredibly detailed insight into how well you are able to fulfill a lover's needs.
The application times how long sex lasts, monitors both the speed and frequency of a couple's sexual rhythm as well as the amount of noise created when making sweet music in the bedroom.

Spreadsheets is an app that uses the iPhone's inbuilt accelerometer and microphone to analyse how well you perform sexually. Users keep a record of their achievements and monitor how they improve in the bedroom

Other features include recording the frequency of love-making, the most thrusts per minute a person is able to achieve as well as the peak number of decibels a person makes when reaching climax.
The app, costing $2.99 - although discounted to $1.99 for the rest of this month -  also has a points system whereby you can set yourself a challenge to prove how dedicated you are to your sex life.
A session of early morning loving gets you 10 points, while a lazy Sunday session earns you 20, for example.
Spreadsheets works by monitoring data from a user’s movement and audio levels through the phone's inbuilt accelerometer and microphone, to provide statistical and visual analysis of their performance in bed.
The app does not record or playback audio or video however.
According to the app's homepage, all data is stored securely on a person's mobile device and information is never relayed, backed up, or synced to the internet.

 

Spreadsheets. Keeping track of your sexual performance

The app give a comprehensive overview of performance and even shows whether you are having sex enough. The app also comes with a planner to make ensure a person makes sex well and truly part of their routine

Spreadsheets is by no means the only erotic-themed app to be found in the iTunes store.
There are apps such as Sex Game that allow you test your knowledge of everything erotic and then there is the What's My Sex Appeal game that quizzes a user to reveal just how attractive they are to other people.
However a large number of apps have been turned down by iTunes for being too explicit and breaching Apple's guidelines.
For example, apps that were deemed too offensive and rejected, include iBoobs, an app that involved shaking the phone to make a pair of virtual breasts move, and PinPoints X that used GPS to plot the location of sex adverts around cities.
There was also the Puff app that involved causing a gust of air to lift up girls' skirts on the screen and Video Strip Poker app that would remove clothing from a virtual model each time a user won a card hand.

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The chemical make-up of your body could indicate how wealthy you are: Rich and poor people's bodies 'contain different toxins'

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You can tell how wealthy a person is based on the chemical build-up in their body, new research suggests.
Scientists at the University of Exeter discovered that harmful chemicals build up in the bodies of people of all social standings, but that the type of toxicants depends on the person’s wealth.
For example, wealthier people tend to have more of the chemicals associated with eating fish and using sunscreen in their bodies.

Harmful chemicals build up in the bodies of people of all social standings, but the type of chemicals depends on the person's wealth and social status

By contrast, less affluent people are more likely to have a build-up of the chemicals associated with smoking.
Using data from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, Dr Jessica Tyrrell and her team analysed possible links between a person’s socioeconomic status and the prevalence of chemicals in their body.
They expected to find that people of lower socioeconomic status would have more toxins in their bodies.
However, this was not the case.
Dr Tyrrell said: ‘We’ve found that as people become better off, changes in their lifestyle alter the types of chemicals in their bodies, rather than reducing the overall amount.
‘This realisation has a profound impact on the way we treat chemical build-ups, suggesting we should move to dealing with groups based on lifestyle, rather than earnings.’

Wealthier people tend to have more of the chemicals associated with eating fish and using sunscreen in their bodies. These include urinary mercury, arsenic, caesium and thallium

By comparing the results from six separate populations, the researchers have been able to show strong associations between 18 different chemicals and poverty ratings.
Individuals with higher incomes had larger amounts of several toxicants, including urinary mercury, arsenic, caesium and thallium, with diet likely to play a key role in their accumulation.
‘The age old adage of “you are what you eat” seems to be true when explaining some of the trends we’re seeing in the data. It’s certainly very likely that fish and shellfish consumption is partially responsible for build-ups in mercury, arsenic and thallium’, said Dr Tyrrell.
The use of sunscreen was also found to be an important factor in the accumulation of benzophenone-3, with people from higher socioeconomic groups more likely to use products containing the chemical.

Less affluent people's bodies are more likely to have a build-up of the chemicals associated with smoking

Those with lower incomes were more likely to have build-ups of urinary lead, cadmium, antimony and bisphenol A.
Cigarette smoking and a poor diet were among the factors likely to lead to the build-up of both lead and cadmium in these groups.
‘Long term exposure to chemicals, even in very small quantities, can lead to a number of adverse health effects such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
‘This study has produced a robust analysis of how the accumulation of these chemicals relates to socioeconomic status, giving us an important understanding that will help to inform strategies aimed at improving health,’ Dr Tyrrell said.

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'Hey fatty, do more exercise!' Fitness app uses virtual love interest to insult women into losing weight - but boys get a babe telling them they're brilliant...

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Fitness and dieting apps are ten a penny, so in a saturated market it can be hard for new programmes to stand out.

The ‘Nenshou’ app from Japan is aiming to grab attention by marrying personal training with 'anime' dating - and throwing a bit of bullying into the mix too.
The app combines the world of ‘gaming dating’ (where the player is a lonely singleton who tries to win the affections of potential partners) with weight loss.
Not only that, but your virtual love interest hectors you into slimming down with ‘motivational’ statements such as ‘Fat girl, do some more exercise, okay?’

As your weight drops and love blossoms, you are taken through increasingly romantic scenarios - but the relationship depends on your dieting success

The app creates a love interest - a high school crush - who you try to impress by loosing weight. Sounds like a healthy relationship.

 

Japanese app makes you exercise to impress virtual girlfriend

To start, each player creates an animated character, who then meets up with their childhood sweetheart. The long-lost love proceeds to tell you you've got fat and need to lose weight. Charming.
The love interest then morphs into a personal trainer, who 'motivates' you through workouts - such as sets of crunches - becoming increasingly romantically interested as you lose weight.
The app has a number of workouts which are prescribed to you by your crush. As you exercise, your partner screams encouragement (what we might call abuse) while keeping count of your sit-ups or laps.
As your weight drops and love blossoms, you are taken through increasingly amorous scenarios - though how the relationship develops depends on your dieting success.

Your crush prescribes various exercises for you, then encourages you through your workout by shouting abuse

While the app aimed at women features a love interest who borders on sadistic, overweight boys get a sweet girl who encourages weight loss through compliments and concern.
Created by ‘Creative Freaks’ the app has done well in Japan, and there's now an English version available on ITunes and Google Play. However it remains to be seen how well Western women respond to being screamed at for being lardy.

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How overcoming adversity DOES help you live longer: Men who survived the Holocaust outlive Jewish men of the same age

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Men who survived the Holocaust live longer than other Jewish men of the same age who did not go through the hell of the Nazi death camps, new research has revealed.
Researchers from Haifa University in Israel found a phenomenon known as 'post-traumatic growth' enabled Holocaust survivors to develop enhanced 'personal and inter-personal skills'.
As a result, male survivors lived up to 18 months longer than Jewish peers who  were not confined to concentration camps during the war.

Men who survived the Holocaust live longer than other Jewish men of the same age who escaped cruel treatment at camps such as Auschwitz, a new study reveals. Researchers from Haifa University found 'post-traumatic growth' enabled Holocaust survivors to develop enhanced personal and inter-personal skills

Holocaust survivors also gained 'new insights and a deeper meaning to life' as a result of their intense psychological ordeal inside the concentration camps, the scientists said.
The study of more than 55,220 Polish Jews found men and women who escaped before Hitler started his campaign of terror had an average life expectancy 6.5 months shorter than those who made it to Israel between the armistice and 1950.
Study leader, Professor Avi Sagi-Schwartz, from the Department of Psychology at Haifa University in Israel, said he was 'surprised' by the finding that male survivors lived for up to 18 months longer.
He said: 'Holocaust survivors not only suffered grave psychosocial trauma but also famine, malnutrition, and lack of hygienic and medical facilities, leading us to believe these damaged their later health and reduced life expectancy.

Male Holocaust survivors lived up to 18 months longer than Jewish peers who were not confined to concentration camps during the war - a finding that 'surprised' study leader, Professor Avi Sagi-Schwartz. Here, prisoners are photographed on a death march from Dachau in 1945

WHAT'S POST-TRAUMATIC GROWTH?

• Post-traumatic growth refers to positive psychological change experienced as a result of the struggle with highly challenging life circumstances
• Circumstances might include: life threatening illness, war, abuse, immigration or deaths of loved ones
• These sets of circumstances represent significant hurdles to the adaptive resources of the individual and challenge their way of understanding the world and their place in it
• Post-traumatic growth is not simply a return to baseline from a period of suffering but is instead it is an experience of improvement that for some persons is deeply meaningful
• People experiencing post-traumatic growth might have a greater appreciation of life, changed sense of priorities, more intimate relationships, greater sense of personal strength, and recognition of new possibilities or paths for their life and spiritual development

'Surprisingly, our findings teach us of the strength and resilience of the human spirit'.
A common belief among scientists is that psychological trauma shortens life expectancy by damaging the victims's DNA by shortening their 'chromosome ends' which control the lifespan of cells in the body.
This inspired the research, published in the journal PLOS ONE, which is the first of its kind to use the official database of the National Insurance Institute of Israel to look at the entire Jewish population who emigrated before and after World War Two.
It compared Holocaust survivors who were between four and 20-years-old when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939 and found that among the women there was 'no significant difference' among the female population of Holocaust survivors.
However, among the men who survived Hitler's mass extermination, life expectancy was 14 months longer than the refugees who escaped.
'Surprisingly, our findings teach us of the strength and resilience of the human spirit'.
A common belief among scientists is that psychological trauma shortens life expectancy by damaging the victims's DNA by shortening their 'chromosome ends' which control the lifespan of cells in the body.

The appalling treatment of Holocaust victims at camps such as Birkenau (pictured) caused many scientists to think that the later health of concentration camp survivors would be damaged and their DNA shortened. But the new study shows 'the strength and resilience of the human spirit' the researchers said

The team found that the older the men in the group caught up in the Holocaust were, the longest their life expectancy.
Professor Sagi-Schwartz said: 'Men who were 10 to 15-years-old during the war and in their early adolescence had a 10 month longer life-expectancy, compared to the comparison group.
'Men who lived through the Holocaust when they were 16 to 20, had an even bigger difference in life-expectancy, 18 months longer than their peers with no Holocaust experience.
'The results of this research give us hope and teach us quite a bit about the resilience of the human spirit when faced with brutal and traumatic events.'

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Cancer, heart disease and diabetes could soon be diagnosed using a simple spit test

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Cancer and other life-threatening illnesses could be diagnosed by a simple saliva test within the next decade, according to experts.
Researchers say their research has the potential to revolutionise how heart disease, diabetes and cancers are diagnosed, meaning the conditions are discovered and treated earlier.
They say saliva samples could help save time and money for patients and doctors, as it means more people could access preliminary medical examinations by just sending their spit.

Cancer and other life-threatening illnesses could be diagnosed by a simple saliva test within the next decade

Research leader Professor Björn Klinge, of Malmo University in Sweden, said: ‘An early diagnosis has significant implications for both patients and healthcare.
‘Instead of having to visit the doctor, patients will be able to swab the inside of their mouth with a cotton bud and send it away for analysis.
‘If the test shows signs of illness, the patient will be called in to a doctor.’
Using saliva samples could help save time and money for patients and doctors, as it means more people could access preliminary medical examinations by just sending their spit.
Professor Klinge said: ‘We are interested in public health and preventative action and we hope to get a broader spectrum of people getting diagnosed earlier.
‘There are many people who are health conscious but there is quite a big group who for many reasons, including their socio-economic status, do not have the same level of access to healthcare and sometimes people have problem getting to a medical unit.

Researchers say the discovery has the potential to revolutionise how heart disease, diabetes and cancers are diagnosed meaning the conditions are discovered and treated earlier

‘It makes it so much easier if they can just send a saliva sample in a plastic bag.
‘We will be able to reach parts of the population that we haven’t reached before, and that will increase our chances of detecting illnesses at an early stage.’
They believe the technique could be common practice among healthcare services within the next five to 10 years, by which time the technology will be more accurate in picking out different conditions that have similar characteristics.
Professor Klinge said: ‘Today, we can use a saliva sample to determine whether a patient is suffering from an inflammatory disease, but we can’t say if the disease resides within the stomach or joints.

Illnesses that cause inflammation, like diabetes, heart disease and cancer, leave tell-tale traces in spit

‘Neither can we differentiate between prostate and bowel cancer, for example.
‘It will be a matter of five to 10 years before we reach that level of accuracy.’
Illnesses that cause inflammation, like diabetes, heart disease and cancer, leave tell-tale traces in spit.
However, natural processes in the body make it difficult to judge what stage a disease may be at.
Professor Klinge said: ‘We have for a long time been looking to identify inflammation markers in saliva, blood and other body fluids.
‘We are trying to identify inflammation’s fingerprint in the body, but the body tries to counteract the activities that are going on so you can’t always be sure of the magnitude of an illness because the body is working to minimise the presence of the markers.
‘So it’s not a simple, straight-forward case of the worse the disease the larger the sample.’
As for future studies, Professor Klinge added: ‘We hope to find components in the saliva that will show when patients are in the process of developing a cardiovascular disease.’
The news comes just after it was revealed that a simple test that predicts the risk of developing breast or prostate cancer could soon be available at GPs’ surgeries.
The £5 test, which will use saliva or blood, would help detect people who are genetically prone the diseases.
The hope is that high-risk patients could then be monitored to catch any tumours in their early stages, slashing the number of people dying from the disease.
Experts have hailed the breakthrough as the 'single biggest leap forward' in finding the genetic causes of prostate cancer.

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Damning survey shows HALF of all children are at risk of rotting teeth thanks to sugary drinks and snacking between meals

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Risk: Nearly six million children in England have rotting teeth or are facing tooth decay

Nearly half of the 12 million children in England have rotting teeth or are at serious risk of tooth decay, according to a damning official report.
Sugary drinks, snacks between meals and poor dental checks are all blamed for the rapid deterioration of children’s teeth before they are eight.
By the time they are 17, six in ten suffer from tooth decay or gum disease, or are  at risk of the problems, according to a Department of Health survey.
The worrying results come after the introduction of a ‘traffic lights’ scheme which is being trialled in 95 dentists’ surgeries in England and which the Government is hoping will lead to a revolution  in dental care.
Under the new system, patients will be given a more thorough check-up than currently provided on the NHS, and then given a ‘green’, ‘amber’ or ‘red’ rating on the condition of their teeth and gums.
Initial results from the trial, seen by The Mail on Sunday, show that 28 per cent of England’s 44 million adults and 13 per cent of children under 18 have a red rating, meaning they are actively suffering from tooth decay or gum disease.
A third of children and more than half of adults are classed as amber, meaning that they are at serious risk of dental problems.
Only 16 per cent of adults and 55 per cent of children were given a green rating for healthy teeth and gums.
Every year about 30,000 children end up being admitted to hospital because of rotten teeth. Many have five or six taken out at once, with some having the whole set of 20 baby teeth removed.
Dr Stephen Fayle, a Leeds-based paediatric dentistry consultant, described the figures as ‘worrying’ and said that too many parents let their children snack throughout the day.
He added: ‘We know children who eat and drink between meals are much more likely to get dental decay.’
Consumption of ‘healthy’ pure fruit juices and products marketed as ‘no sugar added’ had also exploded, he said.
‘Parents think they are giving their children healthy drinks between meals, but they can do a  lot of damage.’

Explosion: There has been a sharp rise in the number of 'no added sugar' products available on the market, but these can be high in naturally occurring sugar

Such drinks were doubly dangerous as they were high in naturally occurring sugar as well as being acidic, which weakened the enamel.
‘The average level of decay in five-year-olds now is very similar to the level  in 1983,’ he said.
But in poorer areas the situation was worse, with deprived children losing more teeth by five than in the early 1980s.
The pilots, which could be rolled out across the country by 2015, are designed  to replace the much criticised contract, devised by Labour in 2006.
This contract is extremely unpopular with some dentists, who say it promotes a quick-fix ‘drill and fill’ approach because it offers rewards for carrying out treatment rather than keeping patients’ teeth healthy.
Last year, the Office of Fair Trading found that unscrupulous dentists were duping patients into paying millions of pounds for private treatment that should be free on the NHS.
However, Barry Cockcroft, chief dental officer for England, last night claimed the traffic-light findings were ‘not statistically robust’ and stressed: ‘There is no country in the world that has lower rates of children’s tooth decay.’
Dr Cockcroft helped preside over the 2006 contract, in which dentists are paid for how many ‘units of dental activity’ they carry out.
He admitted: ‘It seems perverse to continue to pay dentists to do more and more treatment, when the volume of disease is falling. We want to pay them according to better outcomes for patients.’
Dr John Milne, chairman of the General Dental Practice Committee of the British Dental Association, welcomed the move towards preventative dentistry as ‘a positive step forward’, but said  more still needed to be done to improve children’s teeth.

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How facelifts make us look younger by just three years: Study discovers how we perceive the success of plastic surgery

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Slim pickings: A study has found on average people look just three years younger

Having a facelift makes you look just three years younger - and doesn’t improve your attractiveness, claim doctors.
A unique study found plastic surgery results in a more youthful appearance, but the improvements are remarkably small.
Overall, the number of years ‘saved’ by having a full facelift or other procedures such as eyelid surgery is around three.
The more work that’s done, the younger the look, according to US and Canadian specialists.
But they failed to find any significant change in attractiveness ratings afterwards - and in Britain the cost of a clutch of cosmetic surgery procedures could top £10,000.
Dr Joshua Zimm, of the Lenox Hill Hospital and Manhattan Eye, Ear & Throat Institute of North Shore-LIJ Health System, New York, who led the latest study, said plastic surgeons often don’t tell prospective patients they will look younger or more attractive because of the lack of objective research.
Instead patients are told they will look ‘more refreshed’ and ‘less tired’.
But, he said, there is no doubt the explosion in facial surgery has been driven by expectations that patients will look younger, better and even have a competitive edge in the rat race at work.
However, the new study shows ‘limitations’ in what patients should expect.
‘Our data demonstrate that ageing face surgery is effective in reducing the apparent age of patients but doesn’t consistently improve a patient’s attractiveness’ he said.
The latest study, published in the journal JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery (must credit), is the first to investigate ratings of attractiveness post-surgery as well as enhanced youthfulness.

Expectations: One doctor claims the explosion in people having plastic surgery was driven by a belief they would look younger, but it comes at a huge financial cost

The study involved an assessment by 50 independent raters who examined preoperative and postoperative photographs of 49 patients, including 12 men, who underwent plastic surgery.
The patients had surgery between July 2006 and July 2010 at a private practice in Toronto, Canada, run by surgeon Peter Adamson, who took part in the study.
Patients in the study ranged in age from 42 to 73 years at the time of surgery with an average age of 57 years.
On average, the raters estimated their patients’ ages to be about 2.1 years younger than their chronological age before surgery and 5.2 years younger than their chronological age after surgery.

The average overall years saved (true age minus guessed age) following surgery was 3.1 years, with more years saved as more procedures were carried out.
To minimise bias by the raters, none was shown before and after pictures of the same patient.
Raters were also asked to rate the patient’s attractiveness on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the most unattractive and 10 being the most attractive.
There was a small, but statistically insignificant increase in attractiveness scores in post-op photographs.
Three-quarters of patients scored within the range 4-7, and the scores did not change with surgery even after allowing for patient age and procedure.
Dr Zimm said the study found a person’s perceived age conferred a certain level of attractiveness - with younger people generally gauged as being more attractive.
‘From this study, it seems the attractiveness level will remain the same, regardless of age’ he said.
‘The age reduction is more substantial when the number of surgical procedures is increased, but this did not significantly improve overall attractiveness’ he added.
Rajiv Grover, president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons who practises at the King Edward VII Hospital in London, said the attractiveness ratings fell short using strict statistical criteria, but market research techniques would probably have found a substantial change.
He said most UK plastic surgeons would believe the study underestimated the amount of benefit gained by many patients.
He said ‘The key here is good selection. I turn away 40 to 45 per cent of potential patients because I tell them honestly I don’t think they’re going to get the results they’re after and they’ll be wasting their money.
‘If you select patients well, and they’re in the hands of a competent, experienced surgeon I would expect them to look seven, eight, even nine years younger afterwards’ he added.

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