The New Mid-Life: Hand lifts, the solution to granny hands

The evolution of cosmetic surgery in the new mid-life, for women and men

Dr. Stephen Mulholland, owner and director of SpaMedica Infinite Vitality Clinic and one of Canada’s most well-known cosmetic surgeons, does hundreds of hand jobs — I mean, “hand lifts” — a year.

Dr. Mulholland operates on about 120 women’s faces every year, all of whom, now, he says, also want hand lifts, like grown women at a drive-through answering, “Yes! I would indeed like fries with that!”

“It makes no sense to let other body parts reveal your secret,” says Dr. Mulholland.

I don’t care about getting my breasts done or my face done; however, I’ve been obsessing over my knees (yes, my knees!), which, I think, give away my age.

So, I’m not sure if I love Dr. Mulholland, who is extremely friendly and funny, or hate him. Why didn’t anyone tell me that, when I hit mid-life, my knees would wrinkle, as well as my hands and elbows? And the turkey jiggle under my arms? GAH!

“And look at your wrists,” says Dr. Mulholland. I flick my wrists back and notice that I have wrinkles. What the…? (And thanks for pointing that out!)

Dr. Mulholland also pinches the skin on my hand, to see how quickly it will bounce back. Luckily, the skin on my hands is still OK — meaning the skin went back into position within five seconds. (Do not try this at home if you are over 40. It will only upset you!)

I’ve brought a photo with me of Jennifer Aniston, in a bikini, whose knees give her age away (Yes, I notice these things.)

“Ah, yes, you’re getting the start of granny knees,” Dr. Mulholland says, as I stick out my leg. (OK! I got it. I’ve got granny knees!)

Dr. Mulholland can take fat from other parts of your body and inject them into your knees or hands. Or he will use fillers, lasers and Botox, which he prefers to do, which is non-surgical.

But there is maintenance involved. “If you’re doing your knees or hands, you can’t just come in once, or the results will go away. You would have to come in once every season to keep the enhancements.”

I question the cost. If I’m 41 and live to be 80, that’s almost 40 years of shelling out for maintenance.

Dr. Mulholland says upkeep for a face and hand lift costs about $300 a month, which sure as hell sounds better than saying, “Over 20 years, the upkeep will cost $72,000.”

But what’s the point of complaining about cost? (A hand lift costs about $2,500.) Obviously, many women are willing to pay. And men?

Now men in the new mid-life also have options, way beyond getting hair plugs, or liposuction.

“Humans are visual beings,” says Dr. Peter Bray, a reconstructive cosmetic plastic surgeon (also in Yorkville.)

He says, “Five years ago, I’d say I had 90 per cent female clientele, and now, in the last couple of years, it’s 50 per cent men and 50 per cent women.”

Men, he says, are coming in for the Brazilian butt lift, thanks to the recently coined term “spornosexual,” a combination of porn and male sports celebrities influencing plastic surgery for guys.

As well, Dr. Bray gets requests “all the time” for male breast reduction. (Bye-bye man boobs!)

“That has definitely spiked over the last couple of years for men who want body contouring to get that masculine V-shape,” he explains. (Think David Beckham!) “Especially if they’ve lost a lot of weight. They don’t want all that sagging skin.”

Men (who play on BOTH teams, in case you were wondering) are coming to see him, starting at around age 35, because the stigma of “having work done” is disappearing, especially for men.Enlarged male breast reduction costs about $7,000, and the brazilian butt lift and body contouring costs between $8,000 and $9,000 depending on the number of areas that need fat grafting to sculpt and shape the buttock area. There’s no upkeep, aside from keeping up a healthy lifestyle.

“I’ve had men say to me, ‘I was at the gym and a woman double checked out my butt!’ ” Bray says.

He says, without a doubt, that both the breast reductions for men and the butt lift will continue to take off.

“With the aging demographic, more and more men want to look good, which makes them feel good,” he says.

Everyone should feel good, so I guess I’ll give a high-five to that, with my granny hands. And, if you’re wondering why I’m wearing leg warmers and mittens on the beach these days, you know why. Until I book that appointment with Dr. Mulholland, that is.

Post City Magazines’ columnist Rebecca Eckler is the author of Knocked Up, Wiped!, How to Raise a Boyfriend, The Lucky Sperm Club and her latest book, The Mommy Mob.

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