A photo of a man looking decades younger after plastic surgery has been posted, leaving social media users speechless at the incredible before and after transformation.
Images taken at a plastic surgery clinic in Istanbul, Turkey, showing a middle-aged man undergoing facial plastic surgery that left him unrecognizable, have been viewed by 37.3 million people on Channel X, but critics are divided over whether the results are genuine.
Social media user @D_Radiance, who posted the image to X, wrote: “No, surgeons in Turkey are insane doing 8 surgeries at once… this man came back 30 years younger.”
The original Instagram post by cosmetic surgery clinic @estemedistanbultr claims that the patient, “Michael,” has undergone multiple procedures on his face, ranging from a facelift to rhinoplasty (also known as a nose job).
But social media users have questioned whether they are simply being “trolled”, with some joking that he has “got a new head” and transformed “into his grandson”.
In a post featuring patient Michael, pictured, the clinic claims he underwent “facelift, neck lift, lower blepharoplasty, upper blepharoplasty, cheek fat removal, rhinoplasty and hair transplant.”
Dr Mikhail also believes his patient underwent jaw surgery to give himself a more angular appearance, although this was not mentioned in the Instagram post.
MailOnline approached the Istanbul clinic for comment about this incredible case, and other similar breathtaking transformations featured on the site, but did not receive a response.
An Instagram post about the clinic’s “Michael” has 15,500 likes and claims that patients have undergone “facelifts, neck lifts, lower blepharoplasty, upper blepharoplasty, cheek fat removal, rhinoplasty and hair transplants.”
We spoke to some top plastic surgeons and asked them if the procedures they claim to have undergone can really achieve such dramatic changes in appearance.
They were “sceptical”, he said. Dr Nigel Mercer, a Bristol-based consultant plastic surgeon specialising in facial reconstructive surgery, said he was suspicious of the “quality of the skin” in the post-op photographs.
“Looking at the skin texture in the previous photo, we can tell this guy is either a smoker or quite old.”
“In the post-op pictures he has the skin of a 35-year-old and that’s just not possible,” he told MailOnline.
He added that facial hair helps hide facelift scars, but suggested the difference in eyebrow shape suggests other procedures or plastic surgery may be at play.
“The shape of his eyebrows is completely different before and after the surgery,” Mercer said. “That can happen to some extent with a facelift, but just looking at the difference between his upper eyelids and a third of his eyebrows is a massive change.”
“His face shape is completely different. I can’t believe we can do that with just buckle fat removal, which removes the fat pads in his cheeks to create a slimmer, more angular facial appearance.”
London-based NHS plastic surgeon Mark Mikhail said: “Even in a dystopian world where this was possible, [with surgery] They would have had to perform more surgeries than they claim.”
He compared the incredible transformation to that of the 1997 thriller “Face Off,” saying the flawless skin, changed eye color and lack of scars are major evidence that the images have been heavily Photoshopped.
“They say I had a facelift, but there are no scars. A facelift requires incisions around and behind the ears, and when you pull your face back, your sideburns end up right next to your ears,” Dr Mikhail added.
“Men usually have a finger-sized gap between their ears, but this can disappear. He still has that gap in his post-op photos.”
Dr. Mikhail also believes that chin surgery, which is not mentioned in the Instagram post, was necessary to achieve the more angular appearance in the after photo, and that the skin under her neck, which was not targeted by the neck lift, is of good quality, suggesting that the image was edited.
The clinic’s Instagram post features before and after photos of their patient, Direk. In the post, which has garnered 26,500 likes, the clinic claims the images show the results of “two years of rhinoplasty and blepharoplasty.”
Another Instagram post from the same clinic shows shockingly different before and after photos of a patient known as “Miss Direk.”
In the post, which has 26,500 likes, the clinic claims the photos show the results of “two years of rhinoplasty facelift and blepharoplasty surgery.”
Social media users questioned whether the post was a joke, with some suggesting she needed a new passport given how much she’d changed.
“These photos are completely different and are not of the same person,” Dr Mikhail said.
“They say that despite the surgery, my skin texture is completely different and my eyes are a different colour,” he added.
Experts say the lighting in the photos makes it nearly impossible to tell if it is the same woman, and suggest the images are highly edited.
Dr Mercer is also “highly sceptical” that the two before and after photos are of the same woman.
“She looks like a completely different person, there’s no doubt about that. Skin is the main reason we look older and the change in her skin is just phenomenal,” he said.
In the first image, the patient’s eyes are brown, in the second they are blue, but it’s not just the change in eye color that has the surgeon suspicious.
Dr. Mercer explains that it’s difficult to compare her eye shapes because she’s looking in opposite directions.
Although there is no mention of her having had lip fillers, both Dr. Mercer and Dr. Mikhail noted a clear change in the shape and volume of her lips.
“Her upper lip can only be fixed with a lip lift, but there will be no visible lip lift scars,” Dr Mercer said.
“Her upper lip is only a fraction of the height it was before. A direct lip lift would take away the white curl of her very well-formed lips and make her bottom lip look completely different,” he added.
However, the lighting in this image makes it nearly impossible to tell if it’s the same person.
Dr Mercer said: “For the before and after, you need the same lighting. This after photo is whited out, which is what Madonna uses on tour, because bright white light will bleach out all the skin tones and take away all the shadows.”
“So the before photo without makeup and the after photo with makeup could be the same person, but heavily edited.”
But Dr Mercer warns that even if it is possible to achieve dramatic changes, such procedures can be risky, especially when travelling internationally.
“There are some very good surgeons in Turkey, but there are also a lot of significant business practices where different things are bundled together and sold,” he said.
“This is a relatively high-risk operation and you can’t just fly in, have the operation and then get on a plane back.”
“If you have severe facial swelling, you should not fly for at least three weeks to a month. Any infections or respiratory issues should be addressed before you return home.”
