TThe scars on the sides of Democratic front-runner Joe Biden’s face are the result of a facelift performed before he began his 2020 campaign, according to top cosmetic surgeons.
Up close, large vertical scars starting at the top of his outer ear canal to about half an inch below the lobe can be seen on both sides of the former vice president’s face. Separate horizontal scars run from behind his ear to the top of his neck.
Those scars, according to cosmetic surgeons who reviewed photos of Biden, are the result of a wrinkleectomy — commonly referred to as a facelift. During the procedure, surgeons said, incisions were made next to Biden’s ears and behind his skull, removing excess skin and creating a tight skin.
(AP/Joe Simonson/Washington Examiner)
“Oh, she had a facelift, there’s no doubt about it,” said top New York-based cosmetic surgeon Dr. Arthur Perry, who is also an associate assistant professor at Columbia Medical School.
He described the size of Biden’s cuts as “incredible” and “quite recent.” He said: “The marks come a long way from his ear. This is very difficult to fix.”
Perry noted that hair was protruding from Biden’s tragus, the piece of cartilage on the outside of the ear. Typically, the skin of the patient’s face is pulled to the edge of the goatee. In Biden’s surgery, however, he said the skin was pulled too far up.
“You can see the beard hairs in his ear,” Perry said. “Normally you don’t need to shave that part of your ear. Joe does.” He added that Biden would have to redo the process to fix the flaws.
(Joe Simonson/Washington Examiner)
“The problem with Biden’s surgery is that it’s obvious,” said Dr. Cap Lesesne, a prominent New York cosmetic surgeon who has According to reports with Hillary Clinton and news anchor Katie Couric.
“I have operated on quite a few high profile people and I would never let them look like this. These are classic facelift scars. It’s probably been over a year. I feel bad for him. He should have removed those scars. He’s in trouble because he can’t change it at this point and you expect him to be at his best.”
Lesesne described how public figures typically plan the procedures two to three years before they are expected to be in the full public glare, so the doctor can assess what the potential scars will look like under the lights. Men require different surgical techniques because they usually don’t wear makeup, except when they’re on TV.
Someone like Biden, Lesesne argued, would have had enough follow-up procedures to minimize scarring. For whatever reason, it seems Biden neglected to do so.
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For decades, it has been apparent that Biden has undergone other cosmetic procedures on his hair, teeth and face. A leading cosmetic surgeon confirmed to Washington Examiner that his practice had inserted hair plugs into Biden. As early as 1987, Biden was asked by a reporter if he had undergone a hair transplant. He answered: “Guess what. I have to keep some mystery in my life.”
Cosmetic surgeon Dr. Jeffrey Spiegel — who says he has celebrities from all over the world in his practice — gave a more generous assessment of Biden’s facelift, though he said the scars could be “improved” with more work.
“Since he’s been a politician for decades, there’s nothing necessarily terrible. It could be just the way he was cured,” Spiegel said.
“More power to him. Anyone who thinks they can improve themselves through their looks and get ahead is great. Maybe he just doesn’t feel as big as he looks. That takes confidence, it’s great. It is an outdated idea that only women get plastic surgery now. There is no stigma here.”
The pinkness of the scar, according to Spiegel, indicated that the procedure took place between six months and two years. He also noted that there was still excess skin, colloquially referred to as a “turkey neck,” below Biden’s chin, a correction usually done during a general facelift.
[Also read: Dental malfunction? Concerns over Biden’s teeth as he struggles to answer debate question]
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Biden is not the first politician to test whether he had cosmetic surgery. The Drudge Report Website documented Clinton’s seemingly changed appearance during the 2016 campaign pushed headlines like “Fresh-faced Hillary shines at Lincoln Center.”
Anti-Clinton author Edward Klein wrote—though provided no evidence—in his book Unprepossessingpublished in 2015, that a cosmetic surgeon had a “mini surgery in her home with the latest medical equipment”.
John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic nominee, has long been accused of having botox injections. In recent years, it has repeatedly compared to a Muppet. During his 2003 California gubernatorial campaign, Arnold Schwarzenegger brushed off rumors that he had a facelift, laughing that people were confusing him with Ser.
Speculation has also been circulating for years about Biden’s potential general election running mate, President Trump, and whether his blonde hair is natural. During the divorce proceedings in 1990, Ivana Trump testified under oath that her ex-husband was in agony over an alleged scalp reduction operation performed the previous year.
Details of Biden’s latest surgery raise the question of whether they will be revealed in his medical records, which he recently promised to release before the Iowa caucuses.
Biden’s previously released health records show a number of minor health problems. In addition to multiple emergency surgeries to remove aneurysms, Biden has been prescribed drugs to enlarge his prostate and lower his cholesterol. In 1996, doctors removed a benign polyp in his colon and in 2013 they removed his gallbladder.
