Michelle Heaton talks to the Mail Online about fillers and more

Michelle Heaton, the former Liberty X singer who has had a double mastectomy and hysterectomy and lives with a heart condition, is fronting the "filler" jab campaign for Perfectha. She speaks openly about the immediate effects and benefits that last up to six months.

It would be fair to say that Michelle Heaton has always looked pretty good. But particularly so considering everything she has been through.

First there was a dramatic collapse while running the London Marathon in 2010, after which the former Liberty X singer was diagnosed with a heart condition that puts her at risk of stroke and sudden cardiac arrest – similar to the one 26-year-old England cricketer James Taylor revealed he is suffering from last week.

Michelle had to wear an implantable monitor for two years, and has been told ‘at some point in the future’ she will need a pacemaker.

Former pop star Michelle Heaton pictured before having her £2,000 cosmetic injections on her face

Here she is pictured after he dermal fillers, which reduced facial wrinkles and deep lines to make her look more youthful

Heaton, second left, was a member of early 2000s pop group Liberty X, formed by five runners up from reality television competition Popstars in 2001

Then in 2013, with her daughter Faith just ten months old, she had a double mastectomy after discovering she carried the faulty BRCA2 gene (just like Hollywood star Angelina Jolie), which gave her an 80 per cent risk of developing aggressive breast cancer and a one in three chance of ovarian cancer.

The 36-year-old mother of two had a hysterectomy – surgical removal of her womb and ovaries – last year.

The drastic, fertility-ending operation came just months after she gave birth to her son Aaron, now two. Her breast and ovarian cancer risk is now minimal, but recovery was far from plain sailing.

Michelle says: ‘The first time [for the mastectomy] I was under anaesthetic for about six hours.

‘Afterwards, I had surgical drains in my chest and a catheter. It was the most uncomfortable thing, and I couldn’t pick up Faith or cuddle her, which was the worst part.

Heaton, left during her Liberty X days and right at a cosmetic event in 2015, is fronting the 'filler' jab campaign for Perfectha

‘Three years on, I still have no feeling in my breasts at all. They take away everything, every last nerve and bit of breast.

‘The hysterectomy was more difficult. Nothing could have prepared me for the pain.’

Given the gravity of the medical challenges she has faced, it might seem surprising that today she has agreed to front a campaign with medical brand Perfectha to educate women about the benefits of something as seemingly trivial as dermal fillers – cosmetic injections used to rejuvenate the face.

Fillers are an umbrella term for a wide range of gels, of different thicknesses and formulations, that are injected beneath the skin.

FIVE QUESTIONS YOU MUST ASK 1 What qualifications do you have? A medical qualification should be the minimum, but guidelines produced by the GMC and Royal College of Surgeons last week also require anyone offering procedures to be ‘appropriately trained and experienced’. Ask how long your practitioner has been offering your treatment and how many times they’ve done it (right down to the specific area of the face or body you are having it on). You should ask how many complications they have seen and if they know how to remedy them should they occur. 2 What are you injecting? The most commonly used fillers (Perfectha, Restylane, Perlane, Juvederm) are made from hyaluronic acid, a substance that occurs in the skin. These can be dissolved by an ‘antidote’ should problems occur. Calcium hydroxylapatite (used in Radiesse) and poly-L-lactic acid (in Sculptra) are based on a naturally occurring substance found in human bones and teeth. Some doctors use collagen in brands such as Evolence, Zyplast and Zyderm, again based on a protein in the body, but there is no antidote for these. There are permanent fillers but most doctors don’t advise these. 3 Has the product been tested and approved? Due to EU laws which classify fillers as a ‘medical device’ and therefore not subject to strict drug-vetting laws, there are hundreds of brands used in Britain – far more than the 23 approved by US watchdogs the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), considered the gold standard for safety. Dr Kuldeep Minocha says: ‘I would advise patients to stick to brands that have been around for five years, by which time any problems should have become apparent. ‘Any good injector should have on offer at least one tried and tested product from a leading company such as Galderma or Allergan.’ 4 Can I see before and after pictures of your patients? Most good practitioners should have hundreds of these, and be able to show you pictures that are relevant to you. 5 What could happen following my procedure? Ask for a patient consent form, and take it home before deciding whether to go ahead with treatment. You are entitled to a ‘cooling off’ period and you should thoroughly read what you are given as the form will detail every possible thing that could go wrong. Make sure you know what to do when you go home after your procedure and that you have an out-of-hours phone number.

These can be used to reduce deep lines and wrinkles, and add volume lost due to the ageing process of the face.

But why, I had to ask, would Michelle, who has been applauded by patient groups, campaigners and doctors alike for sharing her health struggles publicly, worry about a few wrinkles or eye bags – or, for that matter, ever want to see the inside of another clinic for anything but an utter necessity?

Her argument for deciding to have a £2,000 filler procedure on her face is simple.

She explains: ‘Out of my clothes, I do feel like a bit of a dot-to-dot drawing. I live with my scars. I know there is nothing I can do about them. It’s been out of my control.

'And I’m lucky that my husband [personal trainer Hugh Hanley] loves me the way I am. But the hysterectomy brought on the menopause overnight, and that means my skin has aged.

'I’ve lost a lot of weight, too, which didn’t help.

‘My face was something I knew I could control, to some extent. I wanted to do something that would make me feel better about myself.’

She admits she was apprehensive. ‘I’ve had Botox in past and been open about that. But fillers were a whole different thing. I am very good at doing my research.

'By the time I went in for the procedure, I knew exactly what was going to be put into my face, the amount, what the filler was made of, and all the possible negative side effects.

'I found out everything I could about my doctor as poor results or complications are usually due to inexperienced or unqualified practitioners. I know people who’ve had fillers injected by a dentist. The mind boggles.’

Michelle had fillers injected in four areas of her face on January 20 – which she found painless – and that same night attended the National Television Awards.

She says: ‘The effects were immediate and I was lucky not to have any swelling.

'But best of all, no one said, “Oh, she’s had something done.” Everyone commented on how well I looked, though.

'I was so pleased, because that’s what you want. Hugh is really against this kind of thing but even he admitted he thought I looked better.’

Dr Kuldeep Minocha, of cosmetic experts Absolute Aesthetics, explains: ‘We begin to lose volume in the fat pads of the face – around the eyes, and in the cheeks – from our mid-20s onwards.

'This hollowing, and the subsequent sagging of surrounding tissue, is part of what we perceive as facial ageing.’

The skin loses firmness and elasticity as the natural production of the protein collagen, responsible for these qualities, declines. The production of hyaluronic acid (HA), which helps skin retain moisture, also slows, leading to wrinkling.

Dr Minocha adds: ‘The drop in hormone levels that comes with the menopause accelerates this process. My typical patient is in her mid-40s who feels she no longer looks her best.’

Wary of the influence celebrities have had on younger women opting for aesthetic procedures, Michelle says: ‘I know some of the girls from The Only Way Is Essex, who were criticised for promoting cosmetic surgery. The problem was, they were so young. Their faces are still changing so it seems a little early.

‘I’m a mother of two, and I’ve lived with my face for 36 years. In old pictures of me from my days in Liberty X I look so different. I’ve aged, and I’m fine with that. I don’t want to look 20 again, I just want to look good for my age.’

The kind of filler Michelle had is harmlessly absorbed by the body after about six months so the £2,000 procedure does have to be repeated. But she is quick to point out that less is definitely more.

‘If you are pleased with the result, you might wonder if adding to it might make you look even better. But that’s just not the case.

'There is only so much you can do. It’s important to have a good doctor who will dissuade you from going too far.’

Michelle now sees her stance as another way to use her position in the public eye to be a positive influence.

‘Women can have fillers because they’ve lost a lot of weight, or had the year from hell, or just want a pick-me-up. Just because it’s aesthetic doesn’t mean it’s not important. A big part of me getting better has been looking like myself again.

‘There is nothing wrong with wanting to be your best.’

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