Michael Jackson’s plastic surgeries continue to cause speculation, even weeks after the King of Pop’s death. But, doctors say one of the most pronounced changes to his appearance did not come from cosmetic surgery.
The recent death of singing and choreography sensation Michael Jackson has led to a media feeding frenzy on every facet of the King of Pop, including his private life, his public performances and his controversial final years.
One of those facets, of course, is Jackson’s long and well-documented history of facial cosmetic surgery. And now, doctors are declaring that the pop star was an extreme and ultimately inappropriate example of what plastic surgery can do.
Despite his radical change of appearance that began in the mid-1980s, Jackson admitted to very little cosmetic surgery, claiming he’d only had two nose jobs. But Los Angeles surgeon Dr. Wallace Goodstein, who worked alongside Jackson’s main surgeon, said during a recent interview that Jackson underwent 10 to 12 surgeries in the span of two years.
During that time, Goodstein was witness to many nose jobs, plus eyelid surgery, cheek implants and chin alteration. The general consensus is that Jackson had so much surgery in the 1990s that rather than improve his appearance, it ultimately took a major toll on his face – especially his nose, which suffered severe loss of cartilage.
Near the end of his life, Jackson reportedly sought help from dermatologist Arnold Klein, who told Larry King in a recent interview that he basically rebuilt the singer’s nose by injecting it with hyaluronic fillers.
Jackson also was rumored to have bleached his skin to make it look lighter. But he was actually affected by a natural skin condition called vitiligo, which destroys the skin’s pigment and creates white patches.
Here, Klein had also been enlisted for help. He said that when certain drug and light treatments failed to work, he was able to administer creams that evened out the skin tone but made Jackson appear very pale. This, plus his many facial surgeries, left him with an appearance deemed bizarre by most of the public.
In the final analysis, the famous entertainer–and infamous personality–certainly didn’t try to “become white” by lightening his skin, although many doctors do say that he suffered from body dysmorphic disorder and was never satisfied with his appearance.
Tennille responded:
Perhaps I suffer from the same “body dysmorphic disorder”. It all starts when the people who are supposed to love you (family) are the ones that criticize your appearance. Every time you look in the mirror and a portion of you resembles any of your critics, it’s difficult to like yourself. Physical appearance criticism hurts and I have personally undergone cosmetic surgery to minimize my emotional distress. Poor Michael was repeatedly told by his Dad (Joe) that his nose was really large. I believe this was the beginning of his cosmetic obsession, which I completely understand. But, I would have to say it did in fact go too far! My cosmetic surgeon has the good sense to say “no” to me. I wish the public understood Michael Jackson’s emotional pain and made more of an effort to be sympathetic. He had no childhood, no friends, and subsequently became socially inept because he had a career at the age of 5 and was expected to be perfect by Joe in every way. I’m not really a dedicated fan, but since his death, I’ve found him to be a person of interest. I’ve always felt bad for him throughout his life and career. There are a lot of photos where he has the most beautiful smile, but there are more photos of him where he looks sad and lonely. He had a tragic life and a tragic death, fantastic entertainer! He was indeed the best at what he did.
Nora responded:
That was very sensitive and insightful, Tennille. Michael had many demons, perfectionism being one of them. I hope he also had many happy times in his life. I do feel very sorry for his children. They obviously loved him very much and it’s terrible to lose the only parent you have at a young age.
Tracy responded:
Wallace Goldstein lost his license to practice medicine in the state of California over these lies he told about Michael Jsckson’s alleged excessive surgeries. You might want to find a more reliable person to reference. Or better yet, take the time to do you own research instead of relying on internet morph videos and you will see that he had the same nose at the end of his life that he had in the late 80′s.
Jannike responded:
It is very important to know that Michael Jackson wasn’t only told by his father that he was ugly because of his nose – he was told by the whole culture that he was ugly. This is the fact which makes the whole question so painful for the white americans – and the blacks too, that everybody is responsible for his hatred of his appearance. He is our “man in the mirror”, and shows us our own shame.
Garrett responded:
MJ started to look quite a bit better towards the end of his life (particularly after having his nose skilfully rebuilt). Still not great, but looking waaay better in 2009 than in 2002/3. Which means that he must have had some sort of corrective surgery.