Joan Rivers and Her Undying Passion for Plastic Surgery

During the premiere of the season two of the reality TV show Joan & Melissa: Joan knows best?, Joan Rivers underwent her 734^th cosmetic procedure.  This is something of a surprise as while everyone knows that she had a passion for plastic surgery, this is the first time she revealed the real number.

During the show, even River’s plastic surgeon Norman Leaf was surprised when she showed up for consultation; this was probably because the TV personality has too much done on her face that it looks as if it was blown by a strong gust of wind.

Despite the overdone appearance, River seems to crave cosmetic plastic surgery as years go by.  Unfortunately, her seemingly unhealthy obsession with the procedure resulted to a windswept appearance and squinty eyes.

Because of too much work done on River’s face, even her daughter Melissa and some of her colleagues beg her to stop having cosmetic procedures.  However, the dissuasion ended when she offered them to pay all their aesthetic treatments.

In a previous interview, the 78-year-old TV personality was quoted saying, “My body is my temple, and my temple needs redecorating.”

Leading cosmetic surgeon Dr. Tarick Smaili, who did not treat Rivers, said that she have had too many procedures, including facelift surgery, that resulted to the unnatural appearance.

“Facelift surgery, because it cannot stop the aging process, still needs some revisions after 10 years or so.  However, repeating the procedure should be carefully done as the skin becomes thinner as people age,” Smaili said.

The cosmetic surgeon said the disadvantage of repeating facelift surgery more than twice is the higher risk of losing the “fundamental” shape of the face, resulting to an unnatural look.

“Also, pulling the skin over and over again can result to the squinty eyes or fish eyes.  That look is very unflattering so plastic surgeons have to be extra careful when doing revisions,” he added.

Smaili said that while the number of facelift surgery performed on a patient should be limited, this is not the case for soft tissue fillers and most injectable treatments designed to remove or minimize the signs of aging.

“Soft tissue fillers like Juvederm and Restylane should be performed every six months to two years, depending on the absorption rate of the body and treated areas.  Botox should also be repeated every couple of months in order to maintain the youthful appearance,” Smaili added.