職業女性應警惕"電腦臉"

A growing number of women are developing something called 'computer face', a leading cosmetic surgeon said.

Dr Michael Prager said professionals who worked long hours in front of a screen were ending up with saggy jowls, 'turkey neck' and deep-set wrinkles on their forehead and around their eyes.

The Botox specialist said that, of all his clientele, office workers were most likely to show premature signs of ageing.

'If you are one of the unfortunate people who frown or squint while they are concentrating at the screen then, over time, you will inevitably end up with frown lines,' Dr Prager, 42, said.

'What is perhaps more surprising is the number of women with saggy jowls because they are sitting in one position for so long.

'If you spend most of the time looking down then the neck muscles shorten and go saggy, eventually giving you a second neck.

'We are seeing a lot of women who work in executive jobs in offices who have this problem.' Dr Prager, who has a practice near Harley Street in London, said he encourages his clients to put a mirror next to their computer so they can see if they are frowning at the screen.

'When people are stressed or thinking hard about something then they will often put on a "grumpy face" without even knowing what they are doing. When my clients put a mirror next to their desk they are often shocked by the angry, frowning face which stares back at them.'

He warned that a generation of younger men and women who had grown up with information technology were developing 'computer face' at a much earlier age.

He said: 'The women I am seeing at the moment have only been using computers at work for the last decade or so. But women in their 20s have grown up with them and use them for every single task.

'It will be completely different for them and I think the problem is going to become much, much worse. In another ten years, they could be looking quite awful.'

Dr Prager said there were several simple steps which could stave off computer face such as regular screen breaks and stretching the neck muscles. And, of course, there was always Botox.

He said that, after a couple of sessions of Botox, the habit of 'grumpy face' could be broken.

一位權威整容外科醫生指出，越來越多的女性正在患上一種被稱作“電腦臉”的症狀。

邁克爾•普拉傑醫生說，職業女性長時間在電腦前工作，將會導致她們面頰下垂、出現“火雞脖”、前額和眼睛周圍皺紋深陷。

這位肉毒桿菌整容專家表示，在他所有的客戶中，辦公室女性最易顯現出提前衰老的跡象。

42歲的普拉傑醫生說：“如果你在電腦前專心工作時常常蹙眉或眯眼斜視的話，那麼很不幸，長此以往，你的面部將不可避免地出現皺紋。”

“可能更令人震驚的是，竟然有這麼多的女性有面頰下垂的症狀，因爲她們長時間都保持同一坐姿。”

“如果大多數時間你都埋頭俯視狀態，頸部肌肉就會萎縮並且變得鬆弛，最終導致雙下巴。

“我們看到許多在辦公室裏擔任管理職務的女性都有這個問題。”在倫敦哈利街附近執業的普拉傑醫生建議客戶在自己的電腦旁邊放置一面鏡子，以便能看到自己是否在皺着眉頭看電腦。

“當人們壓力大，或在努力思考某件事情的時候，常常會擺出一副‘暴躁的面孔’，而自己卻意識不到。當我的客戶們在自己桌旁擺了鏡子以後，她們常常會對鏡中瞪着自己的那張憤怒、眉頭緊鎖的臉感到震驚。”

他告誡說，伴隨着信息技術成長起來的年輕一代男女正在出現“電腦臉”，而且呈年輕化趨勢。

他說：“目前我所治療的只是在電腦前工作了十年左右的女性。但是那些20多歲的女孩則是在電腦的陪伴下成長的，她們的每一項工作都離不開電腦。

“對她們來說，情況就會完全不同，而且我認爲這個問題將變得更加糟糕。再過十年，她們看起來可能會相當恐怖。”

普拉傑醫生說，有幾種簡單的方法可以延緩“電腦臉”的到來，諸如定期離開電腦屏幕休息一下，伸展頸部肌肉。當然，注射肉毒桿菌也會有作用。

他說，經過幾個療程的肉毒桿菌注射，愛擺“暴躁的面孔”這樣的壞習慣可能得到改正。

Vocabulary:

jowl: the lower part of somebody's cheek when it is fat and hangs down below their chin（雙下巴；下頜垂肉）

Botox: a substance that makes muscles relax. It is sometimes injected into the skin around somebody's eyes to remove lines and make the skin look younger. 保妥適注射，肉毒桿菌素（可用於除皺）

clientele: all the customers or clients of a shop/store, restaurant, organization, etc. （統稱）顧客，主顧，客戶

squint: to look at something with your eyes partly shut in order to keep out bright light or to see better（眯着眼睛看）

grumpy: bad-tempered（脾氣壞的；性情暴躁的）

stave off: 延緩，推遲