Botoxed Biden — how cosmetic docs helped Democratic debater - In Your Face

Botoxed Biden — how cosmetic docs helped Democratic debater

October 3rd, 2008, 10:00 am · 6 Comments · posted by Colin Stewart

Photos: Top two: Sen. Joe Biden at vice presidential debate. (AP photos) Lower photo: Biden’s hair-restoration work in the 1980s. (Courtesy of Make Me Heal)

FIGHTING HAIR LOSS AND WRINKLES

Cosmetic doctors helped mold Sen. Joe Biden’s appearance in last night’s vice presidential debate.

Botox injections apparently both eased the 65-year-old’s wrinkles and constrained his facial expressions. That was in addition to the hair replenishment procedures that he underwent many years ago, which reversed the hair loss that he was experiencing.

I’m in the process of seeking expert comments from dermatologists and plastic surgeons. As those arrive, I’ll add to this post.

Plastic surgeon Dr. Jason Pozner of Boca Raton, Fla., starts it off with a critique of how Biden was Botoxed. Those injections reduced wrinkles caused by the frontalis forehead muscles, but also affected his drooping eyebrows, or brow ptosis, Pozner said:

Way too much Botox. It’s exactly what not to do -– take someone with brow ptosis and knock out their frontalis muscles – no wrinkles but their brows drop too much. As he speaks you can see the corners of his eyebrows twitch a bit.

Plastic surgeon Dr. John Di Saia of San Clemente believes that Biden needs more than just the Botox:

Sen. Biden has likely had Botulinum toxin treatments, but would he ever benefit from a simple eyelid operation! Or better yet, eyelids with an endoscopic forehead lift.

Biden hair transplants Biden turned to hair transplants in the 1980s (pictured), reports the Make Me Heal cosmetic-medicine site. It quotes hair-transplant specialist Dr. Alan Bauman, also of Boca Raton, about Biden’s hair-restoration work:

His transplants, initially performed decades ago, are a “relic” of the dark ages of hair transplant surgery during which time widely spaced, large “hair plugs” (skin grafts) of 20-30 hairs each were used. For perspective, keep in mind that many men who received the first old-style transplants were listening to 8-track tapes and carrying briefcase-sized cell phones at the time. …

These old “hair plugs” are in stark contrast to today’s methods of undetectable single-follicle and “follicular-unit” methods of implantation used in modern hair transplant procedures. In addition, today’s highly trained surgeons are well-educated in the artistic planning of hair transplantation—a very critical step—and use microsurgical techniques to transplant literally thousands of follicles transplanted individually, or just two or three at a time.

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For more on celebrities and cosmetic medicine, see links on the right side of this blog.

(This post was updated on Oct. 3 to include Dr. Di Saia’s comments and on Oct. 6 to include Dr. Bauman’s comments and the link to the photo from Make Me Heal.)

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