We'll sue, say women 'duped' into £4,500 facelift jabs

Isolagen was billed as a nonsurgical facelift when it was launched amid a huge publicity campaign four years ago.

However, some plastic surgeons who used the procedure, which involved injecting collagen cells grown from patients' skin, admitted that it had been 'over-hyped' and had failed to work in one in five cases.

An investigation has been started

by trading standards officers after complaints from customers who claimed they had been duped.

Some women have formed a campaign group and are considering legal action against the Californiabased firm behind the treatment or the clinics that administered it.

Isolagen was withdrawn in America shortly before its launch in the UK after the Federal Drugs Agency expressed concerns over the scientific trials. But as it was not deemed to be a medicine in the UK it did not require regulation here.

Isolagen was offered in clinics across the country and marketed as a fashionable advance in cosmetics in advertising featuring Dynasty actress Emma Samms.

Other celebrities rumoured to have undergone the treatment included Tamara Mellon, Linda Barker and Anthea Turner.

However, Isolagen shut its UK operations in March, leaving hundreds of women pursuing it for a refund.

Julia Hall, a 37-year-old bookkeeper from Kent, said she and her partner paid nearly £8,000, both having Isolagen at a clinic in central London.

She had skin removed from behind her ears and then returned for two courses of treatment, which involved about 40 injections in crease lines on her face. But, she said, improvements failed to materialise.

"We have lost almost all our life savings," added Miss Hall.

"It was extortionately expensive and at the time the advertising totally duped us into going ahead with the treatment."

Douglas McGeorge, president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, said the product was 'completely oversold' and ten times the cost of similar treatments.

He added: "It is just a very expensive filler. The creases appear again and as with any filler it needs topping up again."

Dr Andrew Weber, who used Isolagen at the Richmond Clinic in Surrey, said he believed about 18 per cent of patients were dissatisfied.

Last night, a spokesman for Isolagen said: "Our decision to close was purely for financial reasons and was not product or safety related.

"Since then there has been no legal action taken against the company by our patients. We are aware of a small number of patients who have contacted us with complaints or questions.

"We have had, and are continuing to have, dialogue with each of them about their individual comments."