14 DAY TRIAL // As Dr. Norman Leaf says in his book “Are Those Real? True Tales of Plastic Surgery from Beverly Hills,” there’s hardly one celebrity in Hollywood who hasn’t had some kind of work done or subtle tweaking.
Usually, they say, if you can’t spot plastic surgery but you can definitely tell something’s changed, that means the surgery was done by a skilled professional who worked by the book.
When you can see the signs, then, the surgeon botched it. As the Styleist puts it, there are 5 telltale signs of plastic surgery gone bad – and we have plenty of stars who showcase at least one of them.
First on the list comes the so-called “Nike swoosh” or the “lateral sweep,” which occurs as a poorly done facelift ages and looks just like its names suggest.
Instead of pulling the skin on the face upwards, the inexperienced or rushed surgeon pulls it towards the ears because it’s easier that way. As it ages, the face starts to look eerie.
“A good face lift is a vertical orientation lift. The problem is, many plastic surgeons pull the skin horizontally. The patient ends up with a Nike swoop, more commonly referred to as a windblown look,” Dr. Robert Freund explains for the e-zine.
The next telltale sign is the pixie ear, which is the most obvious indicator of a botched plastic surgery. Country singer Dolly Parton could be the “owner” of pixie ears, since she’s never seen with her hair down.
The pixie ear occurs when the surgeon pulls the skin on the face for a facelift and then pulls the earlobe until it becomes attached to the face and literally disappears, forming a straight line.
The Cruella De Ville Botox brow is yet another obvious sign of man’s intervention to correct that which nature (and time) try to destroy. It consists of an incredibly arched brow, also known as the “constantly surprised look.”
“The unnaturally high arched lateral eyebrow is a dead giveaway of Botox. It usually occurs when Botox is injected in the wrong place, or not injected into the muscle that lifts the brow,” facial plastic surgeon Dr. Michael A. Persky explains for the Styleist.
The “done” nose job is also a sign of surgical tampering and appears when someone has either too many interventions or just a very bad one resulting in a nose that is so perfect it can’t be found in real life.
“An expert nose job will gently erase what may be considered detractors from the face; things like bumps, humps and a too-prominent presence. But an obviously ‘done’ nose job will utilize unnatural pinching and nasal angles that just don’t occur in nature, says Dr. Persky,” Styleist says.
The country club ear scar is the fifth sign of bad plastic surgery – and also the one most difficult to make disappear. It can be hidden successfully though.
When performing a facelift, surgeons will hide the scars in the ear area, either under or behind it. If the intervention is done badly, it can leave white scars that are easily visible if the person in question is not wearing their hair loose.
“This is the big one, and you’ll see it all over the country club tennis-playing circles,” Dr. Freund reveals.
“The right way to do a face lift is not just to pull skin – you’ll look good for three months, but then the skin will drop again and you’ll be left the same, but now with scars. The muscle should instead be repaired and an extra incision created under the chin so no one can see the mark,” the same expert reveals.
As for celebrities who sport these telltale signs we have: Priscilla Presley for the “Nike swoosh,” Dolly for the pixie ear, Janet Dickinson for the Botox brow, Janet Jackson for the “done” nose and Mickey Rourke for the country club ear scar.