# What happened to Viktor Yushchenko's face?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-viktor-yushchenkos-face/277282
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 30, 2004, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-viktor-yushchenkos-face/277282 "2004-11-30T04:35:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2004, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-viktor-yushchenkos-face/277282/1 "2004-11-30T04:35:58Z")
Viktor Yushchenko, one of the men vying for the presidency in the Ukraine, has undergone a strange transformation. He [used to be quite a handsome man](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.artukraine.com/buildukraine/images/yushchenko.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.artukraine.com/buildukraine/yushchenko7.htm&h=262&w=184&sz=41&tbnid=8-0vFNr2mAcJ:&tbnh=106&tbnw=75&start=14&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dviktor%2Byushchenko%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN), but since September 2004 has undergone a [radical transformation](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4041321.stm). It doesn’t even look like the same man! Hard to believe someone could change so much in so short a time.
Does anyone have any idea what might cause such a dramatic transformation? Some (including Yushchenko himself, apparently) have claimed dioxin poisoning, others rosacea, some just stress (!?!?). The lesions on Yushchenko’s face are alleged to be chloracne from exposure to dioxin, though they’ve only been “diagnosed” via photographs. How would you go about poisoning just one individual using dioxin? Are there any other poisons or contaminants that could cause this? Could rosacea really alter a person’s face so dramatically this fast? Could Yushchenko’s face ever go back the way it was?
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### Author:  [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2004, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-viktor-yushchenkos-face/277282/2 "2004-11-30T10:24:10Z")
The mysterious changes look even more drastic here: [http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/11/25/yushchenko.ailment.ap/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/11/25/yushchenko.ailment.ap/index.html)
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### Author:  [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2004, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-viktor-yushchenkos-face/277282/3 "2004-11-30T11:12:03Z")
That [link](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4041321.stm) in the OP is odd… his nose is a completely different shape - from being straight or almost aquiline it now has a pudgy upturned tip. 😕
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### Author:  [@bryanmaguire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bryanmaguire)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2004, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-viktor-yushchenkos-face/277282/4 "2004-11-30T11:25:35Z")
It was reported that he had dinner with the head of the Ukranian Secret Police two months ago. Perhaps it’s just coincidence.
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### Author:  [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2004, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-viktor-yushchenkos-face/277282/5 "2004-11-30T15:00:06Z")
Does anyone know how an individual could be poisoned by dioxin? Everything I know about that chemical indicates that it tends to accumulate over time, whereas Yushchenko’s transformation happened suddenly. Even Agent Orange didn’t cause those radical changes. Would it have been administered in food in a large dose, which matches up with Yushchenko’s hospitalization for stomach pains? Could blood work or something prove he was poisoned, and if so, why doesn’t he do it and blow the lid off the whole thing?
I don’t know why I find this whole issue so fascinating, but my horror at the situation really makes me wonder. If you were going to poison someone, why would you use something that left such outwardly visible signs? The whole thing is just downright weird.
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### Author:  [@Sue\_Duhnym](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sue_Duhnym)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2004, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-viktor-yushchenkos-face/277282/6 "2004-11-30T15:11:24Z")
> [@Colophon](#):
>
> That [link](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4041321.stm) in the OP is odd… his nose is a completely different shape - from being straight or almost aquiline it now has a pudgy upturned tip. 😕
I agree. WTF?
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2004, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-viktor-yushchenkos-face/277282/7 "2004-12-02T07:34:53Z")
I started my own thread without seeing this. His hair has gone gray, too… I’d love to hear what some Doper doctors think about this. It’d also be great if we could see when this happened, if there was anything gradual or if it was as sudden as it sounds. This is incredibly weird.
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### Author:  [@Martiju](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martiju)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2004, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-viktor-yushchenkos-face/277282/8 "2004-12-02T10:54:53Z")
I have read (The Times or Evening Standard, last Thursday) that this could be caused by a skin allergy, brought on by stress. The article did raise the issue of dioxins, but suggested that the kind of dosage to bring about such radical effects would almost certainly have been fatal. Also, of course, you’d expect Viktor Yushchenko to have made some kind of fuss if he was suspicious - it would go a long way to furthering his cause after all!
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### Author:  [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2004, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-viktor-yushchenkos-face/277282/9 "2004-12-02T11:05:59Z")
> [@Martiju](#):
>
> I have read (The Times or Evening Standard, last Thursday) that this could be caused by a skin allergy, brought on by stress. The article did raise the issue of dioxins, but suggested that the kind of dosage to bring about such radical effects would almost certainly have been fatal. Also, of course, you’d expect Viktor Yushchenko to have made some kind of fuss if he was suspicious - it would go a long way to furthering his cause after all!
He did make a bid fuss. And he used this as an electoral argument. I remember that soon after his illness/poisoning, he was accusing the Ukranian authorities of having poisoning him. There was already a controversy, since the hospital where he was treated issued contradictory statements, from different members of the staff (the doctor who treated him and the manager of the hospital, IIRC), one stating that they couldn’t explain his illness otherwise than by poisonning, the other stating that Yuschenko or Yuschenko’s friends had exerted strong pressures (or threats?) on the hospital managment so that they would conclude the way he wanted.
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### Author:  [@Martiju](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martiju)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2004, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-viktor-yushchenkos-face/277282/10 "2004-12-03T12:07:48Z")
> [@clairobscur](#):
>
> He did make a bid fuss.
I didn’t know this (evidently). In which case, read my synopsis as just that - a synopsis of recent press coverage that I’ve seen…
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### Author:  [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2004, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-viktor-yushchenkos-face/277282/11 "2004-12-08T12:29:49Z")
> [@](#):
>
> MEDICAL experts have confirmed that Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine’s opposition leader, was poisoned in an attempt on his life during election campaigning, the doctor who supervised his treatment at an Austrian clinic said yesterday.
>
> […]
>
> “This is no longer a question for discussion,” Dr Korpan said. “We are now sure that we can confirm which substance caused this illness. He received this substance from other people who had a specific aim.”
>
> Asked if the aim had been to kill him, Dr Korpan said: “Yes, of course.”
> **[The Times & The Sunday Times](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/)**
>
> News and opinion from The Times & The Sunday Times
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### Author:  [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2004, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-viktor-yushchenkos-face/277282/12 "2004-12-08T16:24:32Z")
> [@](#):
>
> If you were going to poison someone, why would you use something that left such outwardly visible signs?
Even if the attempt wasnt to kill him, ruining his appearance (I believe he was widely considered very handsome) could cause voters to choose the candidate that didn’t look to be on his deathbed.
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### Author:  [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2004, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-viktor-yushchenkos-face/277282/13 "2004-12-08T17:53:28Z")
> [@CynicalGabe](#):
>
> Even if the attempt wasnt to kill him, ruining his appearance (I believe he was widely considered very handsome) could cause voters to choose the candidate that didn’t look to be on his deathbed.
Good point. I’d definitely think twice before voting for a guy who seemed to be aging about 10 times faster than any normal human being.