‘Just 20, but all I see are wrinkles’

Young and beautiful, but these women are so scared of ageing they are spending a fortune on surgery

Eva George knows just what she wants for her 21st birthday - a bucketful of Botox. The pretty young office assistant has been putting money into her 'face fund' for two years because she's convinced she looks old.

Eva has been saving into a 'face fund'

Cosmetic surgery clinics used to be kept in business by women in their 40s and 50s desperate to hold back time. But these days, surgeons increasingly see clients in their 20s demanding anti-ageing treatments, as Britain becomes populated by a generation of age dysmorphics. In the last three years, there's been a 49 per cent increase in the number of women in their 20s having regular Botox.

"To many women, looking young equals worth and beauty," says clinical psychologist Dr Funke Baffour. "Thirty years ago, women's priorities were about getting a job and earning their own money. We've since taken steps backwards, thanks to our obsession with celebrity - it's all about looking flawless and cellulite-free, like our airbrushed idols. Susan Boyle is a good example of how we value beauty over maturity. When she auditioned on Britain's Got Talent we assumed that because she looked natural and dowdy, she couldn't possibly have any talent."

This unrealistic pressure to always look gorgeous means women are seeking age-defying treatments from a very young age.

Despite the fact that Eva looks like a teenager, she's convinced she's ageing fast because she used to smoke and use sunbeds.

"I think I look at least 30," she moans. "When I look in the mirror, I see an old face with wrinkles everywhere. Some days it upsets me so much I can't bear to go to work - I just feel too self-conscious."

Eva's fears date back to when she was training as a beauty therapist and learnt that skin starts maturing in our 20s. After the course, she decided the beauty industry wasn't for her - but what she learnt stayed with her.

Her rented flat is littered with literature detailing the latest surgery and beauty techniques. She's ditched the sunbeds, drinks two litres of water a day, and sticks to a strict cleansing and exfoliating regime. And although she admits to still having the odd sneaky fag, Eva gulps down glasses of water straight afterwards to ensure her skin is kept hydrated.

"I just want my young skin back," she says. "I don't want to look old, it's so unattractive. Everyone knows that to get on in life you must be young and fresh. You'll never get anywhere going for a job interview looking like an old hag."

Last August, Eva started squirrelling away at least £100 a month into her 'face fund', often sacrificing girls' nights out in pursuit of her perfect face. She's now saved almost £2,000.

"Some friends think I'm mad, but I don't care," she says. "They don't realise how much it would mean to me to look young again."

Eva insists she doesn't have a problem - but wants to look her best for as long as possible.

"My mum tells me I'm being silly, but she doesn't understand. The bottom line is I want to look young, and to do that I need to stop my face from ageing with the help of a surgeon. I don't see what's wrong with that. Looking young and gorgeous will get me what I want in life, and that's what really matters."

'I'll stop at nothing to stay looking young'

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Part-time model Rachael McDermott, 24, is already addicted to Botox.

When Rachael goes to the Transform cosmetic surgery clinic for her six-monthly Botox top-up, she begs her consultant to give her more - and she's asked for fillers too. Although so far, he's said no.

"My lips are already thinning," Rachael says. "I keep badgering my consultant to plump them up with Restylane, but he says they're fine. I stick with him because he does such a good job with the Botox, but deep down I know he's wrong. I'm starting to look haggard."

In a desperate attempt to keep the years at bay, Rachael has already had Botox three times, a chemical peel to rejuvenate her skin, and eight courses of microdermabrasion - a skin resurfacing treatment.

The size-8 model lives at home with her parents in Liverpool. Despite earning under £10,000 a year, she saves what she can. And for Christmas and birthday gifts, her request is always the same - more treatments. She also spends hundreds of pounds a year on beauty products such as exfoliators and moisturisers. In total, fresh-faced Rachael reckons she's spent more than £2,000 trying to look young.

"Other girls spend their cash on clothes - to me this is the same thing. I want to look good and this is how I do it," says Rachael. "I know I'm young to have these treatments, but without them my skin would look dull and wrinkled."

Rachael was just 22 when she decided she needed to freshen up her face. She'd been going through some photos of her early modelling days, when she was 17.

"I looked so youthful in the pictures," she recalls. "Then I went to the mirror and inspected my skin - it looked grey and dull."

She booked herself in for a £200 chemical facial to peel away the top layer of skin. "It was expensive, but it made my skin look gorgeous and everyone said I looked really well," she recalls.

Rachael was hooked. A few weeks later she spotted a frown line between her eyebrows and booked in for Botox. When she told her boyfriend Dave, 27, an engineer, he flipped.

"He went mad," she remembers. "He said I didn't need it and he was worried about the side effects. He was scared it might give me brain damage, which is ridiculous."

Since then, Rachael has had numerous treatments, much to her family's dismay. "My dad jokes I'll end up like Jackie Stallone," she says. "I'd rather that than a wrinkled old prune!"

Now Rachael is looking into more drastic procedures such as Sculptra, a treatment where a form of acid is injected into wrinkles to plump up the skin. "I'm sure my face will start to droop in the next year," she says. "I'll do anything I can to stay young. There's nothing I'll draw the line at.

"I want to age like Madonna. She may not be the most beautiful women in the world, but she has amazing skin, which I'm sure is down to peels and the odd nip/tuck. If one day I need a full facelift, so be it. I don't ever want to look old."

The extremes these women go to in their quest for youthful skin is an alarming phenomenon, warns Dr Baffour.

"But what can we do?" she says. "We can't ban Botox as it would go underground and be even more dangerous. We need to stand up as a society and stop pressuring women to put so much emphasis on this fake ideal of beauty."

Dr Baffour is adamant that the surge in anti-ageing treatments among celebrities has fuelled girls' insecurities.

"These days, a frozen face is meant to be the ideal of beauty," she says. "Celebrities in their 40s and 50s are wrinkle-free, so young girls learn that you mustn't ever have any wrinkles if you want to get on in life. Having Botox is their way of fighting time, despite it being unrealistic and unnatural. And it's the most vulnerable girls who get sucked in. I've seen girls of 16 who've had Botox. Some girls may be able to grasp that celebrity perfection is all down to good make-up, lighting and surgery. Others can't, and will do whatever they can to look the same."

Viv is saving for an eyelid lift

'I was paranoid that I looked old'

Viv Lloyd, 27, is a sales advisor for a healthcare company. She's single and lives in Birmingham. She's been having anti-ageing treatments for four years.

"I don't want to look fake or plastic, I just want to stay looking young for as long as I can. My philosophy is that if there's something I'm not happy with and it can be fixed, then I'll do it - which is why I began having Botox at 23.

I knew I needed it when someone at work asked me if I was OK - and I was in fact fine. I looked in the mirror and saw deep lines on my forehead, like I was permanently frowning. I felt unattractive and self-conscious. I was paranoid that everyone in the office thought I looked really old.

Within 24 hours, I'd booked a Botox consultation at The Hospital Group. A few days after the injections, my forehead was noticeably smoother. I felt so much more confident as I knew no one could accuse me of looking old.

I still study myself in the mirror to check for more lines and to see if the one between my eyebrows is coming back. I can't bear the thought of them creeping in. As soon as I feel my forehead moving a bit, I know the Botox is wearing off and I book in for more - usually once every six months. It sets me back £249, but in my mind it's money well spent.

I've also started to have a filler in my top lip as I noticed it was thinner than my bottom one. And I'm saving to have an upper eyelid lift, as my eyes aren't as bright and wide as they used to be. This will tighten the skin above my eyes and help my make-up look better. It also lifts the eyebrows slightly, which can be like having a mini facelift. It costs almost £3,000, but it will be worth it.

Obviously all these treatments come at a price. I haven't had a holiday for four years and I often have to shelve nights out and buying new clothes to pay for it.

Some people might think it's extreme, but I don't. My friends don't understand - they think I look young and gorgeous. I do, but only with the help of cosmetic surgeons."

Generation botox

Is it any wonder that women are so worried about looking old, when today's female celebs are frozen in time?

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Michelle Heaton, 28
Last year, the singer and reality TV star followed in the footsteps of pal Jordan and booked herself in for Botox.

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Amanda Holden, 38
The TV judge admits to having Botox, and says she "doesn't know a single actress" who hasn't had it.

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Kylie Minogue, 41
In April, the line-free star finally admitted to having Botox, after years of rumours.