# How did MJ get all those botched plastic surgeries, with all his $$? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 27, 2009, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174 "2009-06-27T15:17:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [June 28, 2009, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/21 "2009-06-28T16:26:44Z")
Body Dyspmorphic Disorder? Is it possible that because he’s had so many surgeries after awhile, that anymore would be impossible, if not out right dangerous? (Supposedly his nose had collapsed) Besides, he was in complete denial about it – remember? He only had TWO nose jobs…he said to help him “breath better.” :rolleyes: :dubious: (If he could breath out of THAT, then I’m Marie of Roumania) ---
**Author:** ![Sparrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Sparrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparrow)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/22 "2009-06-28T19:09:01Z")
> [@Fell\_through\_the\_Ice](#): > > So…what face WAS he trying to achieve? I always thought he wanted to look like the original cartoon Disney Peter Pan. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/23 "2009-06-28T19:35:12Z")
Anyone think that just maybe his face getting burned severely in the Pepsi commercial had a hand in all this? Sure he was a loon and he did some crazy stuff to his face, but it seems to me that it all started after the incident. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/24 "2009-06-28T20:00:17Z")
Michael was so embarrassed with his surgeries he was desperate. He was trying to save face. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/25 "2009-06-28T20:07:37Z")
It always seemed to me that Michael’s “botched” nose was exactly what he was going for. It looks almost like a cartoonish anime style nose or some sort of pixie nose, which I think fits in well with the theory that he had some sort of Peter Pan syndrome. ---
**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:** [June 28, 2009, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/26 "2009-06-28T20:35:31Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > Anyone think that just maybe his face getting burned severely in the Pepsi commercial had a hand in all this? Well, maybe - except it wasn’t his face that got burned, it was the back of his head. Maybe if he had surgified his scalp that theory would work. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/27 "2009-06-28T22:35:30Z")
Being burned probably did have an effect on him, but FTR, he got the first nose job before the Pepsi commercial. ---
**Author:** ![BKReporter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@BKReporter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BKReporter)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/28 "2009-06-29T01:33:42Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > Well, I’m sure the doctors knew to cover their asses and probably had him sign all sorts of releases waiving any legal liability. Yeah, and you have to remember that towards the end, he probably wasn’t dealing with the most ethical doctors either. ---
**Author:** ![RyanH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e36b37/32.png) [@RyanH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RyanH)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/29 "2009-06-29T06:14:17Z")
> [@Fell\_through\_the\_Ice](#): > > These docs totally f\*&ed up his face, but I’ve never heard of any lawsuits against the doctors…did MJ not realize how freakish he looked and therefore thought everything was fine? I’m sure Jackson knew it was horribly botched given that he spent the last decade covering up his face with his hair, fedoras and surgical masks. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/30 "2009-06-29T06:47:02Z")
What bugs me about nose jobs, is ostensibly you can’t change the the width of the nose at its base (below the bottom of the nostrils). MJ has such a wide nose, due to his ethnicity, the “sharpening” of the tip and shaving of the bridge, makes for a weird, triangular, skeletal appearance. In fact, I don’t think rhinoplasties work very well for most of people that want them: The “wide nosers”. When doctors mess with the tip of the nose so drastically, not only does it make the work that was done painfully obvious, but it gives the face a very unsettling look. ::shiver:: Now, if you have a thin, bird-like beak, then I think rhinoplasty is the answer. I think **Chief Pedant** is right, that he was running away from the face he had, and not necessarily going toward a face he had in mind. Probably just different parts, if anything. But, there’s only so much any doctor can do, good or bad. I also think MJ was a tad addicted to the process. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/31 "2009-06-29T14:04:25Z")
Too lazy to look it up… but I thought I heard he had a (naturally occuring) pigmentation problem that lightened parts of his face, and he was lightening his face just to make it match. Is there any truth to this? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/32 "2009-06-29T14:11:50Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > Too lazy to look it up… but I thought I heard he had a (naturally occuring) pigmentation problem that lightened parts of his face, and he was lightening his face just to make it match. > > Is there any truth to this? Yeah… it’s called [vitiligo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitiligo), but he’s claimed that he hasn’t bleached his skin. ---
**Author:** ![MrFloppy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@MrFloppy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrFloppy)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/33 "2009-06-29T15:43:52Z")
> [@Fell\_through\_the\_Ice](#): > > So…what face WAS he trying to achieve? I always understood that was trying to look like Diana Ross. [http://www.magic99.ca/files/event-image/Diana%20Ross.jpg](http://www.magic99.ca/files/event-image/Diana%20Ross.jpg) ---
**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:** [June 29, 2009, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/34 "2009-06-29T17:05:01Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > Too lazy to look it up… but I thought I heard he had a (naturally occuring) pigmentation problem that lightened parts of his face, and he was lightening his face just to make it match. > > Is there any truth to this? Possibly. I’ve know 3 or 4 people in my life with actual vitiligo and it really does depigment your skin. It’s a noticable and disfiguring difference even on pale Caucasians, for those who are of naturally darker skin it would be even more prominent. However, it also depigments in a very patchy manner. The use of opaque makeup to even out skin tone is an option. [Lee Thomas](http://a.abcnews.com/images/2020/ht_turn_white_080102_mn.jpg), a Detroit area TV news anchor, has vitiligo in the typical patchy manner and when on TV he does use makeup to even out his skin tone. [this picture](http://lh6.google.com/fisherwy/R2gK0Ge9tZI/AAAAAAAAMPM/HuX5Vo-sqEY/vitiligo-suffering%20fox%20reporter%20Lee%20Thomas%20picture%5B5%5D) shows the effectiveness of make up in contrast to his hand, which is almost entirely without natural pigment at this point. It is _possible_ for the disease to be so severe that is essentially renders even a very dark-skinned person albino-white. It is _possible_ that Michael Jackson had extensive vitiligo. It’s also possible he used the disorder as a cover for bleaching his skin. It’s also possible that, at a certain point, he _did_ bleach his skin to achieve a more even an consistent skin tone as that is also an option for people with vitiligo, and some choose to be a more consistent all-over pale white than blotchy white and brown, in which case, while the skin bleaching may have been cosmetic, it would have been related to an actual medical disorder. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/35 "2009-06-29T17:25:26Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > It’s a little-known fact that Michael Jackson was actually trying to make himself look like his idol, [King Edward IV.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Edward_IV_Plantagenet.jpg) But he failed miserably. The results speak for themselves. Well - he would have succeeded, if it wasn’t for the cease and desist lawsuit that John Lithgow had filed. ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/36 "2009-06-29T18:45:16Z")
> [@MrFloppy](#): > > I always understood that was trying to look like Diana Ross. > > [http://www.magic99.ca/files/event-image/Diana%20Ross.jpg](http://www.magic99.ca/files/event-image/Diana%20Ross.jpg) I heard that too, after the release of Thriller and before Bad. So, I think his Thriller nose was supposed to look like Diana’s, but he obviously changed his mind and his nose after that. As for the lightening of his skin, that started around the same time, after Thriller and between Bad. ---
**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:** [June 30, 2009, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/37 "2009-06-30T00:13:13Z")
It might explain the one glove. That and didn’t Jordy Chandler describe his…um…other parts as being splotchy? ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/38 "2009-06-30T02:09:36Z")
> [@Sparrow](#): > > I always thought he wanted to look like the original cartoon Disney Peter Pan. Haha, I never realized that. But it’s so true! [![](https://wdfanimation.tripod.com/FeatureFilms/PeterPan/peterpan_se2.jpg) ](https://wdfanimation.tripod.com/FeatureFilms/PeterPan/peterpan_se2.jpg) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174.md?page=1)