# Do Drugs Make You Ugly? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 14, 2011, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-drugs-make-you-ugly/589075 "2011-07-14T23:56:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-drugs-make-you-ugly/589075/41 "2011-07-16T06:44:39Z")
> [@Susanann](#): > > The BEFORE photos are of people who are younger. > The AFTER photos are invaraibly photos of people who are older. Wait, wait, wait. So what you’re saying is that an AFTER photo is going to show someone older than they were in the BEFORE pic? My God, I never realized this! I always thought people grew younger. Thank you for opening my eyes to the fact that AFTER is after BEFORE. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-drugs-make-you-ugly/589075/42 "2011-07-16T11:45:59Z")
> [@Moonlitherial](#): > > My son called last night with a story about his adventures in Vancouver. He and some friends were walking through one of the heavier drug districts in downtown and and as they were walking through they were approached by a dealer trying to sell them meth. My son, lacking the mouth to brain filter on occasion, gestured around him at the addicts sleeping in corners and sitting in small groups said “You know the advertising for your product needs work” > > Luckily he walked out alive. Damn mouthy kid. Isn’t Canada great! American cities are, uh, different. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-drugs-make-you-ugly/589075/43 "2011-07-16T14:47:22Z")
Also, the photos use the trick of higher contrast to emphasize the facial lines (which also has the effect of making the person look more “ragged” or old, menacing, and gritty. This is why the first two comparison photos look much worse than the last two. Although, to be fair, nobody looks good on a bad hair day, even without several facial sores. I recall once printing a photo I took of an elderly gentleman (a priest and president of my college). In one print, using grade 2 (normal) paper, he looked happy and smiling. With the same negative and grade 5 (high contrast) paper, he looked old, ragged, and like he had a nasty vicious threatening grin. That’s how tabloids get those hideous “stars without their makeup” photos. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-drugs-make-you-ugly/589075/44 "2011-07-16T17:33:47Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > [faces of meth](http://photos.oregonlive.com/oregonian/2011/05/faces_of_meth_7.html) > [@lisiate](#): > > Here’s a link to the [Amy Winehouse before and after](http://verydemotivational.memebase.com/?s=winehouse). > [@md2000](#): > > Also, the photos use the trick of higher contrast to emphasize the facial lines (which also has the effect of making the person look more “ragged” or old, menacing, and gritty. This is why the first two comparison photos look much worse than the last two. > > Although, to be fair, nobody looks good on a bad hair day, even without several facial sores. > > I recall once printing a photo I took of an elderly gentleman (a priest and president of my college). In one print, using grade 2 (normal) paper, he looked happy and smiling. With the same negative and grade 5 (high contrast) paper, he looked old, ragged, and like he had a nasty vicious threatening grin. That’s how tabloids get those hideous “stars without their makeup” photos. So the only differences in the pictures in the first two links are lighting and contrast? No other changes have occurred? Somehow, I am unconvinced. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-drugs-make-you-ugly/589075/45 "2011-07-16T18:16:45Z")
> [@Jaledin](#): > > Jimi Hendrix had a cock made out of him, I heard. Clapton weren’t so ugly he couldn’t get no other man’s girl. > > Are you just talking meth or some crack-ass drug? > > Anecdotally, lots of drunks lose their teeth, smokers lose their skin and teeth – what were you looking for, exactly? What the fuck are you yammering about? Joe ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-drugs-make-you-ugly/589075/46 "2011-07-16T18:47:13Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > So the only differences in the pictures in the first two links are lighting and contrast? No other changes have occurred? > > Somehow, I am unconvinced. No, that’s not what I said… but the additional lighting/contrast emphasized the decrepitude. Whether that’s deliberate, or an accident of how/when the photos were made, I leave to the readers’ imagination. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-drugs-make-you-ugly/589075/47 "2011-07-16T18:50:39Z")
Who cares if they make you ugly. Stuff like meth, or too much of anything, will make you stupid. That’s worse. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-drugs-make-you-ugly/589075/48 "2011-07-16T19:23:49Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Whoa. Arms are not supposed to look like that. Fascinating. Actually, the video I saw it was the bare lower legs bones with the flesh of the foot still attached… if by “attached” you mean a grey, shapeless, putrefying blob that hadn’t quite fallen off the bare bones. The flesh of the leg had slumped down like a knee sock after the elastic has given out. Basically, boys and girls, this stuff is bad for you. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-drugs-make-you-ugly/589075/49 "2011-07-16T19:31:20Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Actually, the video I saw it was the bare lower legs bones with the flesh of the foot still attached… if by “attached” you mean a grey, shapeless, putrefying blob that hadn’t quite fallen off the bare bones. The flesh of the leg had slumped down like a knee sock after the elastic has given out. > > Basically, boys and girls, this stuff is bad for you. There is a video of a young girl with the bones of her arm showing (also her bare genitals with lots of dead flesh around on her legs). The video of the guy with his leg rotted off was no where near as nauseating as the other video I saw (and I’m not sure why). ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-drugs-make-you-ugly/589075/50 "2011-07-16T19:55:18Z")
Ok, _now_ I’ve seen the video of the girl. I’m going to spoiler the rest of the post, because I get a little graphic and maybe not everyone wants to read what it looks like. [spoiler]I am never going to be able to look at the Forsaken in _World of Warcraft_ the same way again. Because that’s what it looked like - people with arm and leg bones bared but still alive and moving. And I think that’s what’s so disturbing - the guy with the rotting leg, you mostly just saw the leg. With the girl, the arm with the bone bared to the air was clearly attached to a _person_, you could see her face and hear her cries of pain. I don’t know what they planned to do with that arm - tissue grafting perhaps? Regardless, they’d have to clear any infection and dead tissue first, which leaves the question of just how viable the lower arm and hand is with literally have the flesh/skin/tissue/nerves/blood vessels/tendons just _gone_, That ulna was _clean_, not a scrap of flesh on it for most of its length. I think when the doc was prodding it was was checking to see if it was still attached to the elbow joint or not. I’m thinking that bone is either dead or dying, as bones need a blood supply and I’m not sure it has one anymore. Never mind if that attached hand is actually _useful_ or not. The dead crap around her legs is abscess and rot, literal rot. They have to drain the infection continually (that’s why the wounds are open and have gauze stuck in them) and then cut out all the dead flesh - that’s what they show, cutting away dead tissue. The _dead_ stuff doesn’t hurt, but they have to cut back to _live_ flesh, which bleeds and hurts. The fact she cries out in pain actually means her leg and the bared muscle is still alive, which means it _might_ heal and she might keep it, might survive. If she can resist the urge to get high. See, that’s the really awful part of addiction. It’s not just a normal craving. It’s a craving that leads you to inject shit and poison into your body even as you can see the flesh dripping off your bare limb bones. That is one hell of a powerful compulsion, and I am **so glad** that is not something I have ever suffered from.[/spoiler] _{{{shudder}}}_ ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-drugs-make-you-ugly/589075/51 "2011-07-16T20:40:51Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Forget puking – I need to go and gouge my eyes out. (We really, REALLY need that vomitting smiley!) That’s what this one :o always reminded me of. I say we re-purpose it. ---
**Author:** ![David42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@David42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David42)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-drugs-make-you-ugly/589075/52 "2011-07-16T22:25:39Z")
> [@Susanann](#): > > It is a trick! > The BEFORE photos are of people who are younger. > The AFTER photos are invaraibly photos of people who are older. > So, of course, most people look worse as they get older. As people age, they will look worse whether they use drugs or not. Compare any photo of someone, anyone, in their 20’s to how they have changed, for the worse, 20 years later. > > I can show you the same BEFORE and AFTER effects of someone who has been drinking milk for 20 years. The “after” photos are frequently booking photos as well, with any chance of cleaning up/grooming in a meaningful way denied. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-drugs-make-you-ugly/589075/53 "2011-07-16T23:22:57Z")
> [@David42](#): > > The “after” photos are frequently booking photos as well, with any chance of cleaning up/grooming in a meaningful way denied. A lot of the “before” photos are booking photos, too. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-drugs-make-you-ugly/589075/54 "2011-07-17T02:11:48Z")
Two words: Lindsay Lohan > [@Jaledin](#): > > Jimi Hendrix had a cock made out of him, I heard. Are you talking about [Cynthia Plaster Caster](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynthia_Plaster_Caster)? She did a lot of moldings of celebrity genitalia. That was her trademark. Hendrix later ended up drowning in his own vomit. ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-drugs-make-you-ugly/589075/55 "2011-12-28T10:27:30Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > You are correct. [Here are the same photos from the above link](http://photos.oregonlive.com/oregonian/2011/05/faces_of_meth_7.html), but with the ages defined. Yup, it’s a trick. Is it just me or is Esther Allison prettier in the After photo? (photo set 4 or 5 I think, weird slideshow linkie!) ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-drugs-make-you-ugly/589075/56 "2011-12-28T10:49:27Z")
Short answer no, long answer its usually the lifestyle associated with hard core addiction and sometimes the indirect effects of the drugs that cause it. Living a stressful life on the streets and using every last penny you have to buy impure heroin that you shoot up using old and dirty syringes with contaminated water and running out of money frequently and going into withdrawal again and again is going to make anybody look like shit, pretty simple. Now go look at someone on methadone maintennce who is serious about leaving that life behind, even though they are still dependent on drugs that are usually no different in appearance to anyone else. Those who use amphetamines or even methamphetamine medically and make sure to eat properly and get sleep also do not suffer any ill effects. Its the hard, hard life that comes along with hard core addiction. ---
**Author:** ![Theophane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@Theophane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theophane)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-drugs-make-you-ugly/589075/57 "2011-12-28T15:18:08Z")
> [@](#): > > Do Drugs Make You Ugly? Meth makes you ugly, that’s for sure. It destroys everything, mind body soul. Crack cocaine will not improve your appearance, either. ---
**Author:** ![Theophane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@Theophane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theophane)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-drugs-make-you-ugly/589075/58 "2011-12-28T15:24:21Z")
> [@Susanann](#): > > It is a trick! > The BEFORE photos are of people who are younger. > The AFTER photos are invaraibly photos of people who are older. > So, of course, most people look worse as they get older. As people age, they will look worse whether they use drugs or not. Compare any photo of someone, anyone, in their 20’s to how they have changed, for the worse, 20 years later. > > I can show you the same BEFORE and AFTER effects of someone who has been drinking milk for 20 years. Milk does a body good. Steet drugs cannot make that claim. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-drugs-make-you-ugly/589075/59 "2011-12-28T16:04:14Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Short answer no, long answer its usually the lifestyle associated with hard core addiction and sometimes the indirect effects of the drugs that cause it. > > Living a stressful life on the streets and using every last penny you have to buy impure heroin that you shoot up using old and dirty syringes with contaminated water and running out of money frequently and going into withdrawal again and again is going to make anybody look like shit, pretty simple. > > Its the hard, hard life that comes along with hard core addiction. That doesn’t explain the many celebrity “before & after” fotos, such as Amy Winehouse, who certainly wasn’t “Living a stressful life on the streets and using every last penny you have to buy impure heroin that you shoot up using old and dirty syringes with contaminated water and running out of money frequently”. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-drugs-make-you-ugly/589075/60 "2011-12-28T17:07:32Z")
> [@hermette](#): > > Is it just me or is Esther Allison prettier in the After photo? (photo set 4 or 5 I think, weird slideshow linkie!) Yep. She looks better having lost a few pounds and sporting a different 'do. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-drugs-make-you-ugly/589075.md?page=2)