It’s been 23 years since actress Leslie Ash had a lip plumping treatment that went terribly wrong, leaving her battling cruel ‘trout pout’ taunts as well as efforts to correct the lip filler. Now she’s being asked once again what she’s done to her face – but this time it’s for all the right reasons.
Following her disastrous 2002 filler treatment, the Quadrophenia and Men Behaving Badly star explained: ‘This man-made plastic silicone has been injected into me, gone into the muscles around my mouth and become hard. I had steroid injections that helped soften it a bit but it won’t ever go away.’
It was a horrendous experience but thankfully, Leslie, 65, is now looking and feeling the best she has in decades. As well as benefitting from previous corrective work on her lips, she’s now had a non-surgical 'facelift' to rebuild her shattered confidence – with quite astonishing results.
A delighted Leslie reveals: ‘People keep saying to me, “What have you done? You look amazing!” One friend of mine, who shall remain nameless, is convinced I’ve had surgery because the change was so dramatic, but I can assure you I haven’t.’
Subjecting herself to cosmetic work wasn’t a decision she settled upon lightly, but as she candidly admits, she’s been struggling to come to terms with her ageing face for a long time.
‘I was really quite depressed about how I looked,’ she says. ‘I felt like I’d lost myself completely. I was doing quite a few Quadrophenia signings and events back then and so I was constantly having to look at pictures of myself from 1979, when I was 18, and then when I looked in the mirror, I just didn’t recognise myself anymore.’
‘Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to look 18 again and I know that’s not going to happen, but I was looking tired and old, and my confidence was on the floor, so I decided to do something about it.’
Going under the knife was, understandably, the last thing on Leslie’s mind. ‘It was really important for me to have a non-invasive treatment that achieves really natural-looking results,’ she says. For that, she took advice from celebrity friends who’d already been there, done that and posted the jowl-free selfies. ‘I’d seen that Shirley Ballas and Linda Lusardi had great results with NeoGen, and I know Linda, so it was easy for me to check it out.’
Over the past eight months, Lesley has been quietly visiting aesthetic specialist Dr Martin Kinsella for sessions of NeoGen Plasma, a non-surgical ‘facelift’ that promises tighter skin and lifted contours. Being a self-confessed ‘wuss’, she opted for lower energy settings, which are designed to be more comfortable and have minimal downtime but have still delivered results she’s thrilled by.
‘The difference is really noticeable, and what’s really blown my mind is my jawline, it’s so obvious that it has lifted,’ she says of her before and after shots. ‘Also, my eyes look so much better. They were hooded before and now you can see my eyes are a completely different shape. Then you come to the texture of my skin, and reduction of my pores. Now it looks soft as anything and the colour is uniform.’
She is particularly impressed with how natural the results look. ‘It doesn’t look fake or overdone at all. It’s just me, but a much better version of me. My skin feels tighter and more plump and the overall texture and tone is so much better. I can definitely say I look like I’m in my mid-50s, so, yeah, I’m happy with that. Ten years younger.’
What is NeoGen Plasma?
NeoGen Plasma is a treatment that uses a super-heated nitrogen gas to cause what’s described as ‘controlled heating’ within the skin. This promises to stimulate collagen and elastin production, which in turn leads to a lifted, more youthful look.
Dr Kinsella explains: ‘At my first consultation with Leslie, it was clear that she’d had quite considerable sun damage, she admits to sunbathing quite a lot in the past and there was accelerated ageing and pigmentation as a result. There was also laxity around the neck and jawline and her upper eyelids were puffy and hooded. I told her that I thought NeoGen would be an effective treatment to improve those areas.’
Does NeoGen Plasma hurt?
That depends. The higher the energy, the quicker the results but this needs to be balanced by individual tolerance levels. Discussing Leslie’s experience, Dr Kinsella says: ‘Leslie had a busy lifestyle and didn’t want any down time and also has a relatively low pain threshold, so we had to opt for low energy treatments. I explained that we would still get a great result but that at low levels it would take a bit more time.’
As Leslie herself explains: ‘It’s quite a weird sensation, I was lathered in numbing cream for half an hour before having the treatment. It’s non-invasive but you can feel it, you can put up with it, though. You might be a bit red for a day or two afterwards, like you’ve had a bit too much sun, but after that it’s just amazing, your skin just feels so much tighter and you start to notice your pores closing.’
‘I’m absolutely going to keep having these treatments. The results are so good, I can’t imagine stopping now.’
What’s the cost of Leslie’s natural 'facelift'?
NeoGen Plasma sessions start at £750 each, so a six-session treatment regime such as Leslie’s will cost around £4,500. To support her skin, Leslie has also been taking daily Ameri-Vita Liver Support drinks, with a potent antioxidant cocktail of turmeric, milk thistle, artichoke and vitamin B2, C and E, costing £30 a month.
NeoGen Plasma treatments are available at Dr Martin Kinsella’s Re-Enhance clinic in Hale, Cheshire, and also in London. For more information about NeoGen treatments and to find your nearest clinic in the UK, visit neogenplasma.co.uk/neogen-clinics
All images copyright of NeoGen Plasma, not to be reproduced without permission
