I had a facelift -- without surgery

I picked SpaMedica in Toronto to try some of this state-of-the-art skin wizardry. Dr. Stephen Mulholland runs the place and its satellite office in Hamilton. I had heard of his work in head and neck oncology (he specialized in this field before applying his expertise to cosmetic surgery). I knew he was on the cutting edge of all skin-enhancing developments and I was pretty sure I could trust him to be honest about the condition of my skin and what he could do to improve it.

Honest he was: in my first consultation, he told me point-blank that my skin was "hollow, sunken and shadowy" when it was supposed to look "reflective, radiant and bright." I had a number of problems, he said, rhyming them off: mild acne scars, traces of rosacea (those red blotches that come and go on the face), age spots, spider veins and fine lines. Oh, and my face has begun to drift -- a polite word for sag.

I also have ultrasensitive skin: a number 2 on Mulholland's six-point scale of skin sensitivity. The only people with skin more sensitive than mine are those who have a blue-tinged, almost transparent face and should shun sun altogether. (Although I don't often wear blush or foundation, I have always made a point of wearing sunscreen. I slather it on year-round. Having attended my share of dermatologist conferences during my two-plus decades as a medical journalist [yikes!], I know it's just plain stupid not to protect your skin from the sun.)

I had one main concern at the start of my quest for perfect skin: Was it too late? Should I have come for help 10 years ago? Mulholland assured me that anyone's face could benefit in some way from the interventions that are now available.

Mulholland introduced me to a series of techniques he offers in what he calls the Pan G Lift. Pan G is short for pan germinal (pan is Greek for all or all layers, and germinal comes from the Latin for germen, meaning seed). The G also stands for the ogee, which, in architectural circles, describes an esthetic S-shaped curve. The face, as well as the body, should have curves in the proper places -- cheeks, forehead and nose, he explained.

The Pan G is designed to lift and rejuvenate all areas of an aging face without surgery. Mulholland describes the Pan G as a coordinated program that offers "a feel-good, safe, efficacious face-lift without invasion."

At SpaMedica, the Pan G includes a range of procedures, from which several are chosen depending on the individual's skin type and which flaws need to be targeted.

The beauty of the Pan G is that it runs over several weeks; you can return to work after each procedure and, as Mulholland points out, there's no downtime or recovery time involved. There is also little risk, since the program does not include surgical interventions that require cutting and heavy-duty anesthetics.

The cost, too, is a potential drawing card; at $3,999 for the full package (there's a less-expensive version that includes only some of the components), it's less than a Caribbean vacation, cheaper than a computer and certainly not as big an investment as a car. Full face-lifts, on the other hand, can set you back up to $25,000. And if you do opt for a surgical face-lift later, Mulholland will reimburse you half the cost of the Pan G within five years, or 25 per cent within 10 years.