SIBLINGS: Botox is 'just good maintenance', according to these two doctors who offer the treatment in their clinics.
Rosemary Coleman (41) and Kate Coleman-Moriarty (43) grew up a mile outside Navan, Co Meath in a family of five. Their father was a doctor and both women followed him into the medical profession. Rosemary is a dermatologist and Kate an ophthalmologist.
Married to Paul Moriarty, an eye surgeon, Kate has two children Fleur, 12 and Timothy, 11. Rosemary's husband Peter Greally is a paediatrician and they have three children Harry, 7, Freddie, 6 and Charlie, 3.
In addition to their busy medical practices, the sisters are both involved in cosmetic therapies which includes administering Botox to women and men "from age 22 to 82". Both live in Dublin and have holiday homes in Co Wicklow.
Rosemary: Kate walked me the half-mile down the road on my first day at school. I was only two-and-a-half at the time and I remember stalling outside the sweet shop, refusing to move while she worried she would get into trouble. We shared a double bed and I remember being ordered by her to warm up her cold feet.
A lot of our relations are in the medical profession and it was inevitable that some of us would pursue that. Kate was in the College of Surgeons while I was in Trinity but our social lives overlapped and she introduced me to my husband in a nightclub on Leeson Street. One day she came home and said her boss was gorgeous. She went on to marry him. Both our husbands are dark, handsome, tolerant men - they have to be because we both talk a lot - who have a calming influence on us.
Some of our patients who come to us for the aesthetic treatments do feel guilty about it but we say to them, you look after your hair and your teeth, and you are wearing beautiful clothes. Why be ashamed about looking after your face?
Kate used to pay for me to tidy her room when we lived together in the college days. She recently tried to get me to organise her study but I told her she couldn't afford me now. She might not be as tidy as I am but she has a fantastic eye for clothes, is very generous and has great vision. She had a digital camera years before anyone else and was using e-mail before the rest of us, too. The best thing about Kate is her infectious enthusiasm for everything in life, although, because she doesn't like to say no to people, sometimes she bites off more than she can chew.
Kate: Rosie was my baby sister and when we were teenagers I would mark her card, giving her advice about going to her first disco, that kind of thing. She excelled at Trinity, was top of her class, and she is still very analytical, with an ability to follow unusual cases through to the bitter end.
Our work overlaps in the area of Botox, which was a natural progression from both our fields. It's just considered good maintenance and not letting yourself go. When Rosie and I were teenagers we cooked ourselves in the sun and didn't know the damage it would cause. I don't mind the wrinkles but I can't stand the pigmentation and blotchiness that comes when the skin is damaged. I don't think either of us would like to be 20 again but we have the same interest in keeping our skin healthy.
Rosie is very sensitive, rock solid and incredibly loyal like my mother. With us, family is number one and you mind them close to you. Kate always does what she says she will do, and there aren't many people I can say that about. She works very hard in her career and as a mother. I would like to see her take more time out for herself as she has a great dry sense of humour that really comes out when she is totally relaxed.
Kate and Rosemary spoke to Róisín Ingle