For 24-year old Chloe Loughlin, born with an arch-shaped nose, just catching a glimpse of her own reflection used to be enough to undermine her self-consciousness.

But all that suddenly changed in just ten minutes last November.

‘I used to have a nose where, in profile, you could see this big bump. It upset me so much I was considering having surgery to straighten it,’ says the beauty therapist from Surbiton.

But, rather than go under the knife, Chloe was offered non-surgical nose reshaping, a new procedure that involves injecting a cosmetic filler into key areas around the nose.

‘Two injections straightened out my nose and changed its overall shape,’ says Chloe.

‘They used an anaesthetic cream but that was it. The results were instant and there was such an obvious improvement. I walked out really liking my nose. I was amazed.

‘It’s amazing how something as small as your nose shape can change the way you feel,’ she continues.

‘With my old nose, I’d look in the mirror and feel slightly awkward. Now, I’m pleased with my reflection and that has affected the way I am about myself in general. It is a subtle, emotional change and I’m happier and more self-confident.’

The procedure can help those who are unhappy with their noses not because of the size but because of the shape.

So far, results are promising, with about 1,000 people in the UK estimated to have had the treatment, available through an increasing number of cosmetic clinics.

In particular, it should prove a viable option for those who do not want to resort to nose surgery (rhinoplasty). And with each treatment typically costing £300, nonsurgical nose reshaping is far cheaper. Surgery costs around £3,500 and involves a six-week recovery period.

About 2,500 people have rhinoplasty each year. However, the operation - say researchers at Newcastle University in Australia - is one of the trickiest cosmetic procedures to perform. 

According to their figures, adverse effects - including excessive bleeding, loosening of cartilage in the nose and scar formation - can occur in up to 18 per cent of cases.

Non-surgical nose reshaping originated in Brazil about seven years ago. Cosmetic doctors there were getting requests for subtle changes to nose shape, rather than the more dramatic changes produced by surgery. They applied dermal fillers already being used to fill out other areas of the face.

The method has reached the UK only recently, and was initially used to help reshape the nose after sports injuries. These cosmetic fillers, known by brand names such as Restylane and Juvederm, consist of a combination of hyaluronic acid and water.

Found naturally in the body’s connective tissue, hyaluronic acid is a gel-like substance. Beneath the skin, it combines with water and collagen, a protein which provides structure, to form a spongy layer in between cells.

When a synthetic form of the acid is injected beneath the skin, it is taken up by the body’s own tissue, adding plumpness to specific areas.

However, as it isn’t identical to the body’s own tissue, eventually, in a process that takes between 12 and 18 months, it is recognised by the body’s cells which gradually break it down.