YOUNG women who binge drink are likely to ruin their looks as well as their health. A UK campaign launched this week warns of the dangers of too much alcohol.

According to alcohol education worker Lucy Ferbrache, 27, there is definitely a binge drinking culture in Guernsey.

‘I’m still quite young myself and I see people binge drinking day in and day out,’ she said.

‘People work hard, so they play hard.

‘We live in a wet culture – it’s a way of life.’

The campaign, backed by the Portman Group, a body funded by the alcohol industry to promote responsible drinking, features a spoof cosmetic called Masq Creme de Regret and a bottle with a logo of a woman holding her head while being sick.

‘Binge drinking plays havoc with your skin, as it dehydrates. Drinking too much also interrupts your beauty sleep, which means you may not look your best the next morning,’ said group chief executive Jean Coussins.

A leading UK liver specialist, Professor Oliver James, said that every year, many women under 35 die from liver disease.

‘If 15-year-olds start drinking heavily and do that every week, they could die before they are 30.’

An advocate of the sensible approach is 25-year-old Guernsey resident Toulouse Nordahl.

‘I think you should do everything in moderation,’ she said.

‘Binge drinking also affects other parts of your body that don’t show.

‘When I drink, I make sure I rehydrate afterwards.’

One 16-year-old shop worker wasn’t worried about the side-effects of too much alcohol.

‘Everybody drinks, so everyone looks the same,’ she said.

Friends Kim Guy and Jackie Cusack, both 19 and bank workers, felt that drinking large amounts was a way of life and they were not worried about the effects.

‘You’re going to get wrinkly anyway,’ said Miss Cusack.

‘I drink a lot whenever I go out, really. I’ll use moisturiser to solve the problem.’

Miss Guy was of the same opinion.

‘It’s a thing you do when you’re young, not when you’re older. There are products to stop dehydration, such Botox and Oil of Olay.’