When you are a man as vilified as Moammar Gadhafi, it is unwise to broadcast your indulgences of vanity to the general public. It will only fuel their hatred of you. Perhaps that is why it took more than 15 years for reports of his plastic surgery to surface.
Yes, it appears that the rumors are all true. In 1995, Gadhafi went under the knife to project a more youthful, virile presence to his fellow countrymen. He received a facelift and hair plugs in commemoration of remaining in power for 25 years. Gadhafi, at the time 53 years old, charged two Brazilian plastic surgeons with the task of making him look like a 28-year-old man. I suppose he thought plastic surgeons were miracle workers. Or perhaps he truly believed it was reasonable to not age a day after 25 years of ruling Libya with an iron fist. Either way, his stated goal of looking 28 just adds more fuel to the argument that he is truly mad.
According to Dr. Liacyr Ribiero and Dr. Fabio Naccache, the two plastic surgeons who performed Gadhafi’s makeover, this was not your ordinary plastic surgery procedure. Here are some of the facts surrounding what was perhaps the most bizarre facelift ever:
- The procedure was performed in an underground bunker in the middle of the night
- Gadhafi arrived 5 hours late for his own plastic surgery
- Gadhafi refused to use general anesthesia out of a fear that he may be assassinated during the procedure – instead, he opted for local anesthesia
- Half way through the procedure, Gadhafi ordered the surgeons to take a break so that he could eat a hamburger
- When they finished the procedure, the surgeons were given an envelope containing an unspecified amount of U.S. dollars and Swiss francs – Dr. Ribiero claims it contained more money than he would typically charge at his clinic in Brazil
Dr. Ribiero has also allegedly performed plastic surgery on Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. It is uncertain whether he also operated on Berlusconi’s Bunga Bunga girls. Recent reports have indicated that Berlusconi paid for plastic surgery for the underage prostitutes that performed at his Bunga Bunga parties.
Yet, Berlusconi and Gadhafi are not the only current world leaders to have allegedly undergone plastic surgery. There have been rumors swirling about procedures performed on North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un and Russia’s Vladimir Putin as well. And I’m sure that through the years, many other leaders have gone down this path in an attempt to maintain their youthful looks. After all, running a country can add years to your appearance. Just ask Bill Clinton.
Here are some other world leaders who seem like they may have been prime candidates for plastic surgery:
- Ronald Reagan – Did any president in U.S. history age more gracefully during his time in the Oval Office than Reagan? The man looked exactly the same in 1981 as he did in 1988. Gotta be plastic surgery, or perhaps that case of Alzheimer’s he was developing.
- Dwight Eisenhower – I doubt anyone would ever accuse Eisenhower of getting plastic surgery, but maybe he should have gone that route. Has there ever been a president who looked older and more decrepit than Eisenhower?
- Golda Meir – The former Israeli Prime Minister certainly never got plastic surgery, but it would have done wonders for her. She kind of had that Susan Boyle look going.
- Fidel Castro – The man has been in power for over 50 years, and you’d never know it by his looks. Of course, if some Cuban plastic surgeon ever operated on Castro, he’d have to take that secret to the grave.
- Imelda Marcos – Would it really surprise you if she had a little plastic surgery to go along with the 2,700 pairs of shoes she was reported to have owned?
- Adolph Hitler – People will probably speculate about this one till the end of time. Did Hitler really blow his brains out in that bunker in 1945 or did he have a loyal NAZI plastic surgeon come in to completely rearrange his face? Maybe he lived to a ripe old age on a beach in Brazil with his new appearance. If this were the case, I’m sure he would have been forced to lose the silly moustache. That would have been a dead giveaway.
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