Mickey Rourke’s Plastic Surgery

Eyelid Surgery, Face Lift Comments (2)

In one of the most unusual and popular films of the season, Mickey Rourke  plays a beat-up wrestler aiming for his last and most glorious ring appearance in The Wrestler which won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Oscar.

Nonetheless, many people who have admired Rourke’s acting over the years, want to know what has happened to the actor’s face.

Comparing the slick, smooth and cool Rourke who appeared with Kim Basinger in 9½ Weeks, to the star of Wrestler would cause anybody to wonder what happened.

His boxing career probably didn’t help any. According to the website IMDb which posts biographies and histories of film stars, Rourke suffered a split tongue, a compressed cheekbone and two concussions from his ten professional bouts. (Read more about Rourke’s boxing.)

Before making a career change to acting, Rourke had a nose job, rebuilding it with cartilage from his ear. To this day, the boxing damage causes Rourke to lose his balance if he has a drink or becomes tired. Is it any wonder the American Medical Association wants to see boxing banned?

All that was still when Rourke was considered handsome enough to be a leading man.

But  what happened to produce the face we saw in The Wrestler?

Explains Tarick Smaili, M.D. a board certified Beverly Hills plastic surgeon:

“Starting at the top, it appears Rourke had a brow lift which is evidenced by the much raised hair line which was caused by pulling  the forehead back so much. Also, the right brow is lower and that affects the right eye, making it look smaller.”

(Dr. Smaili is also the medical director of California Surgical Institute.)

“There is evidence of excess skin left from an upper eyelid lift,” Dr. Smaili says.  “Moving down the face, Rourke definitely had a face lift but without optimal results and with too much pulling on the deep layers of muscles. That is evidenced by the deformed dimpling you see on his lower cheeks.

“One gets a sense that Rourke is aware of his appearance because he has grown some facial hair to camouflage it. Finally, his lips seem unbalanced, probably due to some form of lip augmentation,” he says.

So Rourke may not look as cool as he used to but his appearance makes you really believe he’s a (his own words in the movie!) , “beat-up piece of meat.”

What could be next for Rourke? Maybe the Man in the Iron Mask? Zorro? What do you think?

admin @ April 7, 2009