The quest for eternal youth has taken a perplexing turn. Suddenly there are myriad choices for those who seek to mitigate the ravaging effects of time, from glycolic acid-peels to fat transfers, Botox injections to laser resurfacing, browlifts to liposuction. But exploring the plastic-fantastic realm can be a stab in the dark, and with increasingly devastating results.

A new professional has emerged to help patients make sensible choices: the cosmetic-surgery consultant.

Wendy Lewis has been called "the Zagat guide to cosmetic surgery", yet she acts more like a Sherpa to this decidedly complex world, helping individuals locate Dr Right, arranging private nurses and post-surgery treatments and smoothing over any accompanying anxiety with her winning bedside manner.

Unlike some consultants, Lewis is not affiliated wit

Of Barry M Jones, president of BAAPS, Lewis says: "He could operate on me!" The best surgeon, she explains, is someone with an aesthetic eye (in her book, Welcome to your Facelift, Helen Bransford notes the importance of chic décor in a doctor's office), highlyhoned technical skills and an appreciation of women. "Some of the Brits are ... well, there's a lot of anger," says Lewis. Another problem is the imbalance in the sexes. "What plastic surgery in the UK needs is more women surgeons. I've found five."

But honest advisers do exist, and Wendy Lewis is one of them. Charla Krupp, vice president and editor in chief of Eve.com, calls Lewis ?the Zagat guide to cosmetic surgery.? Krupp says, ?She doesn?t funnel clients to a few doctors. Consultants should be ?doctor agonists? - attached to no one - which described Lewis.? As one client puts it, ?She should be in every doctor?s waiting room telling people who and what to trust. I thank God I found her before my last surgery.?

When Lewis first came to London, making contact with The Royal College of Surgeons and the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS), she encountered a chilly reception. "They looked at me like, 'What does she want? What is she doing here?' I never really thought I would see patients in London. It just evolved." These days the consultant crosses the Atlantic every four to six weeks. From an office in Sloane Square, she receives clients from all over the country, charging £150 for an hour-long consultation. In her time she has detected a deep-seated antipathy in some patients for local practitioners. Many women flit to Paris or South Africa for treatment. "A lot of them don't think there's anybody good in England. There are good doctors in England, there just aren't enough of them."

TRUTHFace- and neck-liftFace-liftUpper- and lower- eyelid liftLower-eyelid surgeryNeck liposuctionBrow lift FIBMini-tuckFat injectionsFat bags removedLower-eyelid laser peelPersonal trainerBotox

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