Eternal Youth?

Surgeon Jeya Prakash, 55, recently claimed that injections of human growth hormones, a new and highly controversial anti-ageing treatment, could turn back time. Is he really a cosmetic industry pioneer or just putting patients' lives at risk? " I inject myself with HGH three times a week and look the same as I did 5 years ago", he reveals.

This theory is simple and much like HRT. It is done by replacing a hormone, in this case HGH, which is depleted in the body. He gives an example that if you've tested someone's hormone levels in their 20s or 30s and retested them in their 40s or 50s, you would find lower levels of seven key anti-ageing hormones, one of them being HGH. And with injections, this could be topped up.

Dr. Prakash is planning to open an anti-ageing clinic next year and is sure to overshadow plastic surgery practices. Not surprising. However, according to some experts in the medical world, this treatment is not safe or even effective when used cosmetically. But then again, these experts have no proof.

Injecting this hormone does make cells multiply quickly, so it could accelerate diseases. But if you are fit and healthy, there's no point in having these injections! Dr Prakash adds: "Why spend a lot of money on face and eye lifts and watch helplessly while it sags back in just a few years? If you want to maintain your looks and vitality, you need to stop the ageing process and for that, you need HGH."

But I personally think that the theory of using HGH as a method to help boost hormone levels makes sense because it's perfectly obvious that our hormones deplete, as we get older. However, I still believe that reversing the ageing process is misleading and there are safety issues. I am still interested to see the results in the near future, though.