Ever since the Twilight novels exploded onto the literary scene a few years ago, the entire world has become just a tad bit obsessed with Vampires.

Yes, we’ve fallen in love with the undead and have embraced their blood-sucking ways. Whether it’s Robert Patterson being all moody and mysterious in Twilight or whether it’s the ever-sexy Alexander Skarsgard getting his fangs out in True Blood, there’s no denying it. Ladies, we love us a bitta vampire. Oh yes.

But, despite our love, we can keep our obsession in check. (Well, until Mr Skarsgard starts getting his kit off in True Blood that is…).

Since ‘vampire’ became the latest buzz word, we’ve seen countless television shows about them and we’ve seen films about them. We’ve witnessed vampiric-inspired fashions gracing the catwalks of Milan, London and New York. We’ve seen decidedly gothic make up filtering back into vogue and now?

Well, now we have the vampire facial. A beauty treatment which promises the one thing that vampires are synonymous with: eternal youth. Ahem.

Sounds a bit mad right? But according to beauty therapists who are trained in the art of the vampire facial, it not only gives you a healthy glow – it can also completely rejuvenate your skin. They say that it can actually make you look years younger.

However, despite these claims, the long-term effects of the vampire facial have yet to be established. At the minute, it’s still very much an experimental beauty treatment.

So what does it involve then?

Well, as the name would suggest, the vampire facial involves blood. Yes, blood. Where does this blood come from? Eh…your own body. The therapist picks a spot (generally the thigh is favoured) and then sticks a needle into you and gets that eternal youth juice pumping.

The blood is then put into a special machine which separates the small cells within your blood (the platelets) from the rest of the fluid. The platelets are blended with a fibrin mixture which makes your blood clot and this clotted blood is then injected back into your face.

Lovely.

Despite the needles and the grossness of having your own blood re-injected into your face, women across the world are lining up to avail of this ‘revolutionary’ remedy for all those pesky signs of ageing.

In fact, most women have actually started to champion the vampire facial as being an ‘organic’ beauty treatment. Because the blood is taken from your own body, some feel that the dangers present with other anti-ageing treatments like Botox and facelifts, don’t apply here.

That being said, the vampire facial can have some very nasty side effects. Itchy skin, intense bruising and severe discolouration are just some of the things that could happen. Add all of these to the fact that you also just happen to be injecting blood into a place where blood does not normally pool.

Strange? Obscure? Controversial?

Women, the battle against ageing has taken us down some odd beauty paths in the past but this is a bit scary.

We’ve always been willing to pay for beauty. The disturbing thing is that now we seem to be willing to pay with our own blood.