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A number of periods ago, I received an invitation to undergo a comprehensive body screening in the eastern part of London. This medical center employs electrocardiograms, blood analysis, and a talking skin-scanner to examine patients. The company claims it can identify multiple potential circulatory and metabolic problems, assess your probability of contracting borderline diabetes and detect potentially dangerous pigmented spots.

When viewed from outside, the clinic resembles a large crystal mausoleum. Internally, it's closer to a rounded-wall spa with comfortable changing areas, private examination rooms and potted plants. Unfortunately, there's no pool facility. The entire procedure lasts fewer than an hour, and incorporates various components a largely unclothed scan, multiple blood collections, a test for grasping power and, at the end, through some swift data analysis, a physician review. The majority of clients leave with a relatively clean health report but an eye on potential concerns. During the initial year of business, the facility reports that one percent of its visitors obtained potentially life-saving information, which is significant. The premise is that this information can then be used to inform healthcare providers, guide patients to required care and, in the end, prolong lifespan.

The Experience

The screening process was quite enjoyable. The procedure is painless. I appreciated strolling through their light-hued rooms wearing their soft slippers. Additionally, I appreciated the leisurely experience, though this might be more of a indication on the situation of public healthcare after years of underfunding. Overall, top marks for the process.

Value Assessment

The important consideration is whether the value justifies the cost, which is trickier to evaluate. In part due to there is no control group, and because a glowing review from me would depend on whether it found anything – at which point I'd probably be less focused on giving it five stars. Furthermore, it should be mentioned that it doesn't conduct radiographs, brain scans or body imaging, so can solely identify blood abnormalities and dermal malignancies. Members in my family history have been riddled with cancers, and while I was relieved that my pigmented spots seem concerning, all I can do now is live my life expecting an problematic development.

Public Health Impact

The problem with a dual-level healthcare that starts with a commercial screening is that the onus then falls upon you, and the national health service, which is likely left to do the complex process of treatment. Physician specialists have noted that these assessments are higher-tech, and include additional testing, versus routine screenings which examine people in the age group of 40 and 74.

Preventive beauty is based on the ambient terror that one day we will look as old as we actually are.

Nevertheless, experts have said that "managing the rapid developments in paid healthcare evaluations will be challenging for government services and it is vital that these evaluations provide benefit to individual wellness and prevent causing supplementary tasks – or anxiety for customers – without definite advantages". While I imagine some of the clinic's customers will have other private healthcare options available through their finances.

Broader Context

Early diagnosis is essential to address major illnesses such as cancer, so the appeal of assessment is clear. But these procedures connect with something deeper, an version of something you see with certain circles, that vainglorious cohort who honestly believe they can achieve immortality.

The clinic did not invent our preoccupation with life extension, just as it's not news that affluent persons have longer lifespans. Some of them even look younger, too. Aesthetic businesses had been fighting the passage of time for centuries before modern interventions. Proactive care is just a new way of expressing it, and paid-for preventive healthcare is a logical progression of anti-aging cosmetics.

In addition to cosmetic terminology such as "extended youth" and "prejuvenation", the objective of prevention is not stopping or undoing the years, ideas with which regulatory bodies have taken issue. It's about slowing it down. It's representative of the extents we'll go to meet unattainable ideals – another stick that individuals used to criticize ourselves about, as if the responsibility is ours. The industry of preventive beauty appears as almost doubtful about youth preservation – particularly facelifts and minor adjustments, which seem undignified compared with a topical treatment. Yet both are stemming from the constant fear that eventually we will look as old as we actually are.

Individual Insights

I've tested numerous such products. I appreciate the process. And I would argue certain products improve my appearance. But they aren't better than a good night's sleep, inherited traits or maintaining lower stress. Even still, these constitute methods addressing something outside your influence. No matter how much you accept the perspective that growing older is "a mental construct rather than of 'real life'", society – and aesthetic businesses – will persist in implying that you are elderly as soon as you are not young.

Theoretically, these services and comparable services are not concerned with avoiding mortality – that would constitute absurd. Furthermore, the advantages of timely detection on your physical condition is clearly a completely separate issue than preventive action on your facial lines. But ultimately – examinations, treatments, regardless – it is all a battle with nature, just addressed via somewhat varied methods. After investigating and made use of every element of our earth, we are now seeking to colonise ourselves, to transcend human limitations. {