Lunchtime Cosmetic Procedures at iVillage UK

Before you spend an arm and a leg on looking good, check out our guide to the pros and cons of the most common cosmetic procedures you can have in your lunch hour

Domestic Goddesses, business whizzes and picture-perfect princesses - if you're a noughties super-women you'll be trying to keep up with them all:

Which is why a new breed of cosmetic clinics are becoming commonplace, offering quick-fix solutions to suit our diaries, drain our purses and prey on our ever-growing desire to appear more of a plum than a prune. But are we raving mad to join in?

Cost: £300-£600 (depending on area covered)
How and why: Polyfilla for the face, these literally fill those facial cracks and crevices - or with lips and cheeks, pump them up like tyres. Choose from cow, pig or human (only available in the US) collagen, your own fat or brands mimicking hyaluronic acid (which occurs naturally in the body). The latter are the most popular because the body can already break down hyaluronic acid, so they're less risky.
Time factor: 30-45-minutes Pros: Immediate results. Aim to deliver a peachy-faced reflection for 2-12 months (average is 6 months).
Cons: Lumps may occur - with hyaluronic acid these can be treated. Swelling, tenderness and redness are common for a few days after. Semi-permanent and permanent fillers are more likely to go lumpy and if something goes wrong, there's no going back.
Pain: 2/10 (injections to some facial areas can feel a bit tender)

Cost: £2,750-£3,500
How and why: If a face-full of fillers doesn't appeal but you can bear the idea of your own cells doing the job, this relatively new alternative involves a skin sample being taken from behind your ear. Your own cells are then grown in a Petri dish before being re-injected into your face.
Time factor: 30-minute appointment for skin sample, 8-10-week wait, then 1-hour appointment when the cells are ready
Pros: Cells continue to multiply and maintain your line-free complexion for up to 18 months. Risks appear to be minimal as you're using your own cells.
Cons: Results vary and it's not cheap! As with any new procedure, you could be jumping in crow's feet first.
Pain: 3/10.

Find out more about Spire Healthcare cosmetic surgery

Call free on 0800 434 6644 to request a brochure, or to book an appointment with a consultant surgeon.

We can also arrange a free appointment with a cosmetic nurse adviser.

Cost: Around £250 per area treated
How and why: As time marches on, expression lines furrow - except, of course, if you can find a way to avoid scowling, squinting or creasing up at your favourite sitcom. Panned by its critics for wiping the expression clean off your face, Botox literally paralyses facial muscles. Where you choose to put it and how frozen you look (how much you have injected) is up to you.
Time factor: Around 30 minutes, but it'll be a few days before you see a difference.
Pros: Originally used as a medical therapy, it's one of the few procedures that's been around for nearly two decades. One of the only preventative procedures on the market. If you decide it's not for you, it'll wear off in weeks.
Cons: Flu symptoms can occur for a short period and there's a risk that eyebrows or eyelids may droop if badly applied. Go overboard and you'll look like a startled rabbit. Opt for a single area and other muscles can overwork to compensate. Unless you go to town on every muscle and find work as a street-statue, your face will be ageing at different speeds. Groundhog day comes every three months.
Pain: 2/10 (injections to some facial areas can feel a bit tender)

Cost: £100-£800 depending on type of peel
How and why: Like snakes, we humans naturally shed skin to rejuvenate ourselves. Painting on a chemical solution to speed up the peeling process is a sure-fire way to reveal the virginal layer underneath, giving you a glowing (albeit a little raw) complexion.
Time factor: Light peels take around 30 minutes and you can return to work looking just slightly flustered. Deeper peels take a little longer but result in redness, peeling and crusting, so if you're hoping to peel and go (and no-one to know), light is your only option.
Pros: Improvement in skin tone and texture. Can help with acne and scars, hyperpigmentation, discoloration, fine lines, sun damage and patching.
Cons: Can also cause blotching, scabbing, scarring, redness and blistering. Sun exposure isn't recommended for at least a few weeks.
Pain: Varies, depending on strength of peel

Cost: £80-£150 per treatment (course of 6 is usually recommended)
How and why: Like sanding down wood, microdermabrasion is a heavy-duty version of the exfoliation we're all advised to do at home. Micro-particles are blasted at the skin before being hoovered up along with top layers of your weather-worn skin, making room for the younger layers to emerge.
Time factor: 20-30 minutes
Pros: Instant results.
Any redness can be covered with make-up, so no recovery time is needed. You can top it up at home with microdermabrasion kits.
Cons: May irritate sensitive skin Possible blotching, streaking, pigment changes or redness. Sun exposure isn't recommended for a few days afterwards.
Pain factor: 1/10 (mild discomfort as you're sand-blasted with minute crystals)

Cost: £1,000-£2,000 for each area treated
How and why: For anyone not up for surrendering their saggy bits to the surgeon's knife, this is a marginally less gory way of tightening skin that's losing its battle with gravity. A radiofrequency current (a bit like a microwave) is passed through the skin to heat up the lower layers, literally cooking the collagen beneath the skin.
Time factor: Around 1 hour
Pros: Helps the appearance of lines, tightens skin and improves collagen production. Can help treat acne or oily skin problems.
Effects last 18 months or longer.
Cons: Uncomfortable treatment that requires numbing cream.
Redness will occur afterwards (but nothing make-up won't cover) Scarring may occur, but is rare. Takes 3-6 months to see results
Pain factor: 7-8/10 (pretty uncomfortable as the skin's heated during treatment)

Cost: Around £150 per treatment (at least 3 are recommended)
How and why: A treatment that really gets under your skin, micro-injections are used to deliver hyaluronic acid (biorejuvenation), or vitamins and antioxidants (mesotherapy) straight into the mesodermal (middle) layer of the skin. Popular for faces, decolletage and tops of hands.
Time factor: 30-45 minutes
Pros: Biorejuventation plumps out skin from the inside, so aims to work with your body.
Cons: May cause temporary swelling, redness and bruising but make-up should cover it. Controversy still surrounds the safety of mesotherapy because the effects of many of the substances used are still unknown. Hyaluronic acid (biorejuvenation) is the only substance considered safe. Effects last around 3 months.
Pain factor: 1/10 (smaller needles mean less pain)

Cost: £60-£1,500 depending on what you're having treated £40-£400 for IPL hair reduction (per session) depending on area treated
How and why: The Star Wars of gravity warfare, lasers claim to remove tattoos and hair, fight acne, blemishes and ageing. Ablative lasers burn off surface layers of skin (like a deep peel) and involve longer recovery times. Non-ablative lasers (used to minimise wrinkles, increase collagen production, tighten skin and remove hair, tattoos and thread veins) won't damage the skin's surface.
Time factor: 15-45 minutes. Hair reduction may take several sessions. Recovery time also varies depending on the treatment.
Pros: Can treat a wide variety of problems No more grappling with a razor or shrieks from the bathroom with an epilator after IPL hair reduction.
Cons: Pain and swelling (like sunburn) is common after laser treatments. The closer to the skin's surface the treatment is, the more redness and swelling will occur. Skin lightening or darkening can occur if not used properly or your practitioner is inexperienced. IPL hair reduction holds similar risks, plus some frazzled hair may remain and results vary (particularly poor on fairer hair).
Pain factor: 4/10 (feels a bit like an elastic band snapping against your skin)

Cost: £40 for one tooth-£500 for your whole mouth
How and why: Whitening gel is inserted into a mould made of your mouth, which you then wear for anything from 30 minutes to overnight. This bleaches and permanently whitens teeth.
Time factor: One or two appointments over several weeks
Pros: That whiter-than-white smile
Cons: Repeated bleaching near silver-coloured (amalgam) fillings can give teeth a greenish colour near the filling. Front teeth that are thin may turn darker with bleaching. Gums and teeth can become more sensitive.
Pain factor: 1/10 (supposed to be painless but depends on teeth and gum sensitivity)

Cost: £50-£65 per session
How and why: If your wrinkles have got you frowning but you don't fancy having the signs of surgery etched into your face, a holistic face-lift may be more your thing. Chinese practitioners believe that the flow of the body's motivating energy, 'qi', diminishes with age, causing skin quality to deteriorate. Using massage techniques and acupuncture needles, qi is stimulated to improve skin condition and appearance.
Time factor: 45-60 minutes (up to 6 treatments)
Pros: It's not just a pretty face you'll leave with - working holistically means healthier skin too.
Cons: Varying results and little conclusive evidence that it works. Mild bruising can occur where the needle's been inserted. Repeat appointments are necessary.
Pain factor: 1/10 (pin-prick discomfort as the needle's inserted)

Choosing your practitioner
Many of the risks involved in treatments come down to how good your practitioner is. Bodies like BAAPS (www.baaps.org.uk), the Health Care Commission (www.healthcarecommission.org.uk) and The Consulting Room (www.consultingroom.com) can help you find a good one.