Why did Michael Jackson undergo so much plastic surgery?
Christine Herman's answer: (Publicity photo. Michael Jackson as a teenager before ANY plastic surgery) Medically speaking, Michael had excessive and ongoing plastic surgery because he was pathologically unhappy with his appearance, and his doctors enabled him. Excessive cosmetic surgery will hav...
(Publicity photo. Michael Jackson as a teenager before ANY plastic surgery)
Medically speaking, Michael had excessive and ongoing plastic surgery because he was pathologically unhappy with his appearance, and his doctors enabled him. Excessive cosmetic surgery will have physical consequences for anyone. There are only so many rhinoplasties any person can have before so much cartilage has been removed that, structurally, the nose collapses.
Obviously, Michael had too many rhinoplasties, and you see the end result. It's just a medical fact, and is not “Michael Jackson bashing.” If Michael wanted a chin implant, fine, but his chin implant was too large for his particular face. An implant that is too large can distort the other structures in the face. Michael obviously wanted an implant that large, and his doctors enabled him.
All of his surgeries seemed to have been extreme or inappropriate in this way. He would have a lip reduction one year, only to have a lip enhancement the next.
This does damage. Skin is a living organ, not a piece of clay. There were probably many plastic surgeons who denied his requests, but he found surgeons who wanted to be THE celebrity doctor, and acquiesced.
Michael had body dysmorphia centered on his facial appearance. He considered himself inherently disfigured and surgery was “fixing disfigurement”. Michael may not have considered himself disfigured by excessive surgery, although objectively anyone who obliterates all traces of their true physical appearance because of BDD is disfiguring themselves.
Possible reasons:
This reflects his mental state: the body dysmorphia, pathological fear of aging, and a plastic surgery addiction to outwardly fix what is an internal emotional problem.
- He had his first two rhinoplasties as a teenager in response to his father's criticism about his nose. The story of falling off a stage triggering his first nose job is untrue, according his mother. He felt self-conscious as most teenagers do, but in his case he was free to continue to "improve" his appearance surgically, based on his whims and insecurities.
- As his anxieties about his appearance became overwhelming, the surgeries continued. He developed body dysmorphic disorder and an addiction to plastic surgery as a way to self-medicate the overwhelming anxiety of body dysmorphia.
- Body dysmorphic disorder is when you see yourself as flawed. No matter what anyone else sees, or the reality, when you look in the mirror you see ugly, distorted, and imperfect. Michael kept trying "to perfect" his appearance through surgery as well as excessive, ongoing, unnecessary use of skin lighteners.
- Even with vitiligo, it’s medically apparent he abused and overused his Benoquin depigmenting medication for over 30 years. Once an area is depigmented, it’s unnecessary to continue slathering a potentially dangerous medication all over your body a further 20 years. Doctors enabled him by continuing to prescribe.
- Michael was terrified of getting older and had "Peter Pan Syndrome" so he kept having cosmetic work done in response to that fear. Again, there is only so much “work" anyone can have before they do more damage than good.
- His autopsy showed older scars behind the ears, which are facelift, eyelift and necklift scars. This would have been completely unnecessary for someone Forty.
Your question is not dumb or ill-informed, by the way. It’s a legitimate question.
Anyone who tells you Michael did not have too much surgery does not know what they are talking about. For any surgery you think he had, he likely had three times that much. Why? It’s because plastic surgery was another self-medicating behavior for all the stresses he was under and Body Dysmorphia, a devastating condition
Michael in his forties
Michael at 19 and Michael at 49
Ngl if I had enough money I'd probably do the same. I relate so much to his self hate and the urge to escape your past (although in vain).
