If the eyes are the windows of the soul, what are the hands? According to some experts, they're the windows of your age.
A recent study shows many people can tell how old you are just by looking at your hands - even if you've had plastic surgery or look young for your age.
It's a lesson not lost on Beverly Farrell.
"I'm a nurse," says the 69-year-old, "and you know how often we have to wash our hands. So they've had it!"
"We focus so much attention on our face," agrees Dr Stephen Mulholland, a plastic surgeon who treats Farrell.
"Photo-facials, Botox, filler ... everything looks great. But then when you wear a plunging neck line or you have your hands exposed, you see all the wrinkles. You see the veins. You see the loss of volume."
To combat the telltale signs, he erases liver spots with pulse light treatments and thickens the skin with injections. The filler could be
Sculptra, or the patient's own body fat. It's not for the squeamish - the needles draw blood.
But they do erase wrinkles and eliminate veins, for about $2500.
After the treatment, Farrell's hands are bruised, but noticeably fuller.
The pain? "Fine. It was very tolerable," she says.
"Looking younger after your facelift or eyelid surgery can conflict with aged hands that simply do not match the face," notes Dr. Roxanne Guy of the
American Society of Plastic Surgeons. "After the face, hands are the second most visible, tell-tale sign of one's age. If your goal is to look more youthful or you are bothered by the appearance of your hands, you may seriously want to consider hand rejuvenation."
Researchers showed people photos of female hands and asked them to guess their age. Most were able to hit the target within about 10 years of the actual figure.
What gave them away? Veins, age spots, prominent joints and thin skin. Only those who used nail polish and jewelry to cover the telltale signs of the years were able to fool anyone and even that didn't always work.
Doctors say most of the problems arise not only because you're getting older but because hands are among the most ignored appendages on the body. Sunscreen is rarely applied to them in the summer, hastening the effects of Old Sol. And hormones, which you can't really control, also play a factor.
But there are ways to fix the problem and plastic surgeons are now doing a booming business in a more lasting solution - cosmetic hand surgeries.
Surgeons in Toronto certified by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, and whether they're accepting new patients.
Risks and benefits
Read more on hand juvenation
SpaMedica's Dr. Mulholland
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