JOAN COLLINS turned 73 last week — or so she would have us believe — and Anne Robinson is coasting towards 62. You’d never credit it by looking at them, would you? Barely a wrinkle between the pair.

It’s not their genes, of course; it’s the knife. But they are setting a trend. We are in the age of the sexy sixties and even the smouldering seventies, with a record number of older people seeking surgical assistance to beat back the ravages of time, southern drift and a face like a wrung-out dishcloth.

BUPA, the private health insurer, reports a 40 per cent increase in the past year, and 37 per cent the year before that, in demand for cosmetic operations among the over-60s. It has even coined a name for the phenomenon: “silver surgery”. One in twelve of all cosmetic procedures now performed in BUPA hospitals is on those who have already seen their 60th birthday.

More than a third of cosmetic operations on the over-60s are to fix droopy eyelids, both top and bottom. A further quarter opt for general facelifts to obliterate wrinkles and creases, and 8 per cent seek a reversal of gravity’s inevitable pull on the bust. Other favoured procedures include liposuction and tummy tucks.

More than 80 per cent of women find the idea of cosmetic surgery “perfectly acceptable”, while more men are considering it.

Annabel Bentley, the assistant medical director of BUPA, predicted that the upward trend would continue. “It’s not just about covering up grey hair anymore,” she said. “With an ever-ageing population and more emphasis on trying to look our best for longer, cos-metic surgery for those in their later years is likely to become more commonplace.”

The services of her chain of private hospitals and consultants do not come cheap. Upper and lower-eyelid reduction start at £3,000, an entry-level breast uplift at £3,800 and a full facelift anywhere between £4,000 and £9,000.

The most popular procedure across all ages remains breast enlargement, accounting for more than a third of all operations, and costing about £4,000. But it is unlikely to appeal to the pensioner on a fixed income, who might prefer a facial anti-wrinkle injection for a mere £150, or a laser removal of some of the worst of time’s lines for £400.

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