Igor and Grichka Bogdanoff: Extreme Disasters in Plastic Surgery and Why They Do It

Twenty years ago, South African-born billionaire Jocelyn Wildenstein was seen as a rare example of extreme plastic surgery.

Nicknamed “Catwoman” because her multiple injections, implants, fillers, tensioners and surgeries were intended to transform her into a human version of the big cats in her homeland, she was considered a prominent case of obsession with cosmetic surgery.

These days, not so much.

Excessive plastic surgery by celebrities or those who seek fame by becoming known for it, such as “human Barbies”, is becoming more common.

Whether it’s Hollywood-style pressure to maintain a youthful appearance, or something darker in a person’s psychology, obsessive plastic surgery is on the rise.

According to a psychology report, body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) occurs in 1 percent of the general population, but in 7 to 15 percent of cosmetic surgery patients.

And these people also tended to have high rates of major depression, substance use disorders, social phobia, eating disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

At the very least, psychologists say that patients can become addicted to the excitement they feel from undergoing a procedure that they believe increases their attractiveness.

But it can be linked to troubling issues like low self-esteem, and the impulse they feel can push them into more procedures that begin to dismantle the structure of their faces.

Excessive plastic surgery not only ruins the appearance of a growing number of people, but they appear to belong to the same race of space aliens.

Celebrities reappear after a trip to Turkey, Brazil, or a Beverly Hills clinic with the same puffy lips, identical square chins, or oddly shaped foreheads.

Actor Mickey Rourke could be the American brother of fashion designer Donatella Versace, and actresses Meg Ryan, Daryl Hannah, Kim Novak and Melanie Griffith could be quadruplets.

Two of the most tragic examples, who were born identical twins and appear to be bereaved twins with plastic surgeries, are French television stars Igor and Grichka Bogdanoff.

With an almost eerie resemblance to Wildenstein, the Bogdanoff brothers, like her, are still injecting and filling up into their seventies.

In the 1970s, there were only handsome

The stars of French television. Having noble Russian ancestry and a shared interest in science fiction and cosmology, they were known for their shows on alien phenomena and robots. The pair looked very different in their first screen appearances in the 1970s, before their obsession with cosmetic surgery.

In the late 1990s, as the Bogdanoffs were nearing fifty, they began undergoing surgery and implants.

Regular at the Cannes Film Festival, the twins now look like a cross between Kirk Douglas and Buzz Lightyear.

Igor has fuller hair and a darker faux tan, while Grichka’s cheek implants are so big they must hurt and his eyes have creased into slits.

According to the statistics of the United States, the number of men who undergo plastic surgery has constantly increased.

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons annual report for 2019 says that 18.1 million minimally invasive and surgical cosmetic procedures were performed in the United States last year alone.

This compares to 13 million in 2011, and the top five procedures were breast augmentation followed by liposuction, eyelid surgery, nose reshaping, and facelifts.

The top five non-surgical procedures were Botox (7.7 m procedures), hyaluronic acid or soft tissue fillers, chemical peels, laser hair removal, and photorejuvenation (IPL).

Plastic surgery predictions from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery for 2020, released ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic in January, indicated it would be a “historic” year.

He predicted a “return of the facelift,” as more patients realized that injectable treatments don’t last.

“The most effective, most natural, longest lasting, and most cost-effective treatment overall for facial aging remains a well-performed neck and cheek lift,” the ASAPS report said.

It also heralded a continued increase in facial procedures by men, and the rise of “Baby Botox,” targeted microinjections of a neurotoxin for a more natural and subtle look.

“Generation Z, people born in the late 1990s and early 2000s will seek cosmetic procedures earlier in life as a preventative and non-surgical measure,” said ASAPS.

Some plastic surgeons are willing to continue operating on extremely disturbed people, like Jessica Alves, a 37-year-old Brazilian-British television personality.

Until recently, Jessica was Rodrigo Alves, or the “human Ken doll,” but after more surgeries that included breast implants she has now resurfaced as a woman.

The top five countries for plastic surgery are the United States, closely followed by Brazil, Japan, Italy, and Mexico.

Statistics from all of these countries show that eyelid surgery was the most requested procedure in the head and facial category.

Most plastic surgeons rarely come across patients who want extreme plastic surgery.

David Wreath, MD, a plastic surgeon in Knoxville, Tennessee, told WebMD that a growing plastic surgery addict is initially difficult to recognize.

“Sometimes you start working with someone who is reasonable, and the more you work with them, you start to realize that you have to break free,” he said.

California women’s studies professor Dr. Natalie Wilson said many plastic surgeons would turn away a client once they are pressured to do more work on a person’s face than is warranted.

“But this is how they make their money, through surgery,” he said, and some people were hooked on the positive feedback that came from the results.

“It makes us feel better and want to be that high again,” Wilson said.

According to an article written by Ohio psychiatry professor Randy Sansone and physician Lori Sansone, patients with body dysmorphic disorder had higher risk factors.

These included higher levels of anger and hostility, lower self-esteem and higher levels of perfectionism, higher frequency of child abuse and neglect, and more frequent suicidal ideas and attempts.

Sansone’s article, Cosmetic Surgery and Psychological Issues, published in Psychiatry MMC, compared patients without BDD who sought cosmetic surgery with those with the disorder.

Those with BDD also had significantly higher rates of “borderline, avoidant, paranoid, schizotypal, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders,” the article found.

A sad example of an obsession with plastic surgery to the point of disfigurement is Korean actress Hang Mioku.

He had his first procedure at age 28 and moved to Japan for more operations.

When doctors refused to continue working on her, he injected some black market silicone into her face and then cooking oil.

Mioku has since undergone surgery to remove silicone, oil, and other foreign substances, but now, in her 50s, she has permanent scars.