Vampire Plastic Surgery?

Teen girls swoon over the sparkling Edward from Twilight, but now full-grown women are getting “vampire face-lifts.”

The Vampire Facelift is not an actual facelift. It removes blood from your arm, the platelets are separated, and is then injected into your face to “replace lost volume.” Newser.com says it is to last longer than similar procedures that use facial fillers.

According to the New York Times, this non-surgical procedure takes about half an hour. The positive results are said to last just over a year, at the price of $900-$1,500, which is cheaper than most facelifts.

The concept of eternal youth has always fascinated, but it isn’t hard to see the possible connection of the recent vampire obsession in popular culture and this “anti-aging” procedure that is supposed to smooth wrinkles using Selphyl.

Wikipedia.org says that Selphyl is a system that arrived on the market in 2009, and involves injecting substances into the patient’s face to smooth out wrinkles. “Fibrinet” was approved in 2002 by the F.D.A., which is similar to Selphyl. But the recent kind of Selphyl, as of March 2011, has not been cleared by the F.D.A., despite its validity claims in advertising and Youtube videos.

Is this just another part of the vampire-obsessed society? Plastic surgery has always had the theme of eternal youth, but being specifically dubbed “vampire” has called attention to how serious the craze could get.

“I don’t think it has to do with the vampire craze. It’s just a facelift, not anything special to do with vampires. Any other decade it’d be called the same thing,” said Junior Marissa Jackson.

Dr. Malcolm Roth, a director of plastic surgery told ABC news, “Vampires are hot right now. That’s a sexy name, so it works.”

But not all doctors are convinced. Aolnews.com says that some doctors are warning against it, due to the possibilities of passing out from taking your own blood, as well as itching, burning, and discoloration in the face.

There are also doubts about several unproved claims about how long the effects last, in addition to the claim of it having F.D.A. approval.