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A number of periods earlier, I was invited to take part in a full-body scan in London's east end. This diagnostic clinic uses electrocardiograms, blood work, and a talking skin-scanner to assess patients. The company claims it can spot numerous hidden cardiovascular and metabolic issues, evaluate your probability of experiencing early diabetes and identify potentially dangerous pigmented spots.

From the outside, the facility appears as a vast transparent memorial. Inside, it's akin to a curve-walled spa with pleasant preparation spaces, individual assessment spaces and pot plants. Sadly, there's absence of aquatic amenities. The whole process requires under an hour, and includes various components a largely unclothed scan, various blood collections, a test for hand strength and, concluding, through some swift data-crunching, a GP consultation. The majority of clients depart with a generally good medical assessment but awareness of future issues. During the initial year of business, the clinic states that 1% of its patients received potentially life-preserving data, which is significant. The idea is that this data can then be shared with medical services, point people towards required intervention and, finally, extend life.

The Experience

My personal encounter was quite enjoyable. It doesn't hurt. I appreciated strolling through their soft-colored rooms wearing their soft sandals. Furthermore, I was grateful for the unhurried atmosphere, though that's perhaps more of a demonstration on the state of government medical systems after periods of underfunding. Overall, 10 out 10 for the experience.

Cost Evaluation

The important consideration is whether it's worth it, which is trickier to evaluate. Partly because there is no comparison basis, and because a positive assessment from me would be contingent upon whether it found anything – at which point I'd probably be less focused on giving it top rating. Furthermore, it should be mentioned that it doesn't include radiographs, magnetic resonance imaging or computed tomography, so can only detect hematological issues and skin cancers. People in my family tree have been affected by cancers, and while I was reassured that my pigmented spots appear suspicious, all I can do now is continue living expecting an problematic development.

Healthcare System Implications

The issue regarding a dual-level healthcare that commences with a commercial screening is that the onus then rests with you, and the public healthcare system, which is likely left to do the complex process of intervention. Healthcare professionals have commented that these scans are higher-tech, and include extra examinations, compared with conventional assessments which screen people aged between 40 and 74.

Preventive beauty is rooted in the ambient terror that one day we will appear our age as we really are.

Nonetheless, experts have stated that "managing the quick progress in commercial health screenings will be problematic for public healthcare and it is crucial that these assessments provide benefit to patient wellbeing and prevent causing supplementary tasks – or patient stress – without clear benefits". Though I presume some of the clinic's customers will have additional paid health plans stored in their wallets.

Cultural Significance

Timely identification is crucial to address significant conditions such as cancer, so the benefit of testing is clear. But these procedures tap into something more profound, an version of something you see with various groups, that vainglorious cohort who truly feel they can live for ever.

The clinic did not create our focus on longevity, just as it's not unexpected that rich people enjoy extended lives. Some of them even seem less aged, too. The beauty industry had been resisting the passage of time for hundreds of years before current approaches. Proactive care is just a different approach of expressing it, and fee-based preventive healthcare is a expected development of anti-aging cosmetics.

Together with aesthetic jargon such as "gradual aging" and "preventive aesthetics", the goal of prevention is not preventing or undoing the years, ideas with which compliance agencies have expressed concern. It's about slowing it down. It's representative of the measures we'll go to adhere to unrealistic expectations – an additional burden that individuals used to criticize ourselves about, as if the obligation is ours. The market of preventive beauty positions itself as almost questioning of anti-ageing – particularly facelifts and tweakments, which seem unrefined compared with a topical treatment. However, both are rooted in the constant fear that one day we will show our years as we really are.

My Conclusions

I've tested many topical treatments. I appreciate the routine. And I dare say some of them enhance my complexion. But they aren't better than a proper rest, inherited traits or maintaining lower stress. Nonetheless, these represent methods addressing something out of your hands. Regardless of how strongly you embrace the perspective that growing older is "a mental construct rather than of 'real life'", culture – and aesthetic businesses – will persist in implying that you are old as soon as you are not young.

In principle, such screenings and similar offerings are not about avoiding mortality – that would represent ridiculous. And the benefits of early intervention on your health is clearly a completely separate issue than early intervention on your facial lines. But finally – scans, treatments, regardless – it is all a battle with nature, just addressed via slightly different ways. Having explored and utilized every aspect of our world, we are now trying to conquer our own biology, to transcend human limitations. {