For a few minutes let’s peel our eyes from the “exclusive last photo!”, the “rare, behind the scenes footage!” and time-lapse photographs of Michael Jackson’s nose. Instead, let’s look at the horrific progression of untreated mental illness.

I am not a doctor but I don’t need a degree to see that Michael was mentally ill. Addiction, anorexia, depression, pedophilia? Maybe. Body dysmorphic Disorder (BDD). Definitely. What is this?

Preoccupation with an imagined defect in appearance. If a slight physical anomaly is present, the person’s concern is markedly excessive. The preoccupation causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. 

Individuals with Body Dysmorphic Disorder often pursue and receive general medical, dental or surgical treatments to rectify their imagined defects. Such treatment may cause the disorder to worsen, leading to intensified or new preoccupations, which may in turn lead to further unsuccessful procedures, so that individuals may eventually possess “synthetic” noses, ears, breasts and hips, which they are still dissatisfied with. (DSM-IV)

Michael Jackson was not a freak, he was a very sick man. I do not understand how any surgeon could continue carving Michael’s face without recognizing that Michael might suffer from BDD.  Just because Michael had the money and the surgeon had the skill does not make it right or ethical.  Wasn’t there anyone in his life – family, friends, physicians – who were willing to intervene – even if it took a court order?

Michael is not alone. There are many people who suffer from BDD – especially here in Palm Beach. These are the women with faces you cannot stop looking at. Skin so taught it looks like it will burst. Eyes pulled so tight that the women look Asian. Tiny button noses. Huge lips. Where is the line between quiet, enhancing cosmetic surgery and maiming? Why aren’t we blaming cosmetic surgeons for their role in this illness?

I admired Michael as an artist. I feel pity for him today. And I have no respect for the doctors who indulged and encouraged his mental illness.

formerly known as dysmorphophobia, an excessive preoccupation with real or imagined physical defects. The illness often begins in adolescence and …