The love between the scientist and his wife was the stuff of legends. They had met when he was a young man, penniless but full of ambition, and she, a beauty whose face was known across the continent. They were married within days of meeting one another and were inseparable ever since, but when the pair entered into their mature years something changed. They were still as in love as ever, but the scientist’s wife was growing tired. Lines had creeped out from the corners of her eyes and years of joy and laugher had creased her face into a frown. She was not dead, but her beauty was punished and the woman despaired. ‘Can you bring me back to life my love?’ she pleaded. The scientist’s brows furrowed with thought. Such an undertaking had never been attempted in the world of science, but his love for his wife and his wild ambition made made him rise to the challenge. ‘I will invent dermal fillers!’ he announced, and set to work.
The night came when the scientist brought his wife into the laboratory and helped her onto the gurney. Thunder cracked above them and a shock of light flashed in the room – an ominous precursor to their experiment into the unknown realms of beauty therapy. The scientist used a balm of local anaesthetic to soothe his wife’s once beautiful skin, and then he began his operation. He raised a long hypodermic up to the light and gave it a tap, then lowered it to her face. She barely twitched as he pressed the plunger. He quickly bandaged her face – they wouldn’t know the results until later, but she was okay. The embraced in the stormy night. Days later when it was time to remove the bandages, the mad scientist looked at his wife’s face with awe. The lines around her eyes and mouth had smoothed, and her skin was as supple as it had been twenty years earlier. The scientist’s daring experiment had proved safe and effective and ever since that day, anti-wrinkle treatments. Melbourne cosmetic professionals have offered dermal fillers ever since, resuscitating tired old skin and making the legendary beauty of the scientist’s wife accessible to all.