A surgery addict who has undergone 43 operations to look like ‘Barbie’s Ken’ has now insured his body for £1 million after a nose job went drastically wrong.
Rodrigo Alves, 32, originally from Sao Paolo, Brazil, but who now lives in London, has recently had his seventh nose job – to fix the damage caused by the sixth.
After that operation, performed in Iran, his body rejected his new nose and he suffered necrosis – where the flesh withers and dies – and had to be put on antibiotics immediately.
Because he was in Marbella at the time, Mr Alves was forced to pay £40,000 for emergency treatment after doctors warned the infection may eat through his nose into his face.
After that incident, he decided he needed to protect his body – and has since insured it in case he needs cosmetic work in future.
Rodrigo Alves, 32, has spent 11 years and £350,000 on cosmetic procedures (left, before any surgery). Now (right), he has insured his body for £1 million in case he needs emergency work
Since 2004, he has undergone 43 operations – and has been likened to a ‘real life Ken doll’. He said he is flattered by this description as ‘Barbie and Ken represent the perfection of a female and male body form’
Mr Alves said: ‘I’ve spent nearly £350,000 on procedures over the past 11 years and I needed some insurance.
‘I pay a monthly premium and from now on if anything goes wrong I can get it fixed. if I’d been covered it would have paid for my last operation.
‘It makes sense really, it’s a bit like having comprehensive cover with your car insurance.’
As part of his seventh nose job, doctors removed cartilage from his rib area and rebuilt his nose from scratch after previous operations have left him with hardly any bone and tissue.
-
Hairdresser, 23, only realised she was pregnant when she…
Pensioner who broke her pelvis while protesting about local…
Girl whose skin ‘sheds like a snake’ becomes addicted to…
From a woman who performed a Caesarean on herself to a man…
The £50,000 procedure was carried out by Professor Nektarios Sinis, who works in a private clinic in Berlin.
Since he has spent two weeks recovering, returning to London last night.
He said: ‘I’m able to breathe through my nose for the first time in months – it is such a relief and I feel very happy – even food tastes so much better.
‘Given the fact that I have now had seven nose jobs including the latest one where Prof Sinis used cartilage from my ribs, my recovery has been pretty amazing and my nose looks very natural.
‘Prof Dr Sinis told me that there was still a 50 per cent chance of necrosis of my nose and infection again but luckily I am okay so far.’
Mr Alves is now recovering from a seventh nose job (left) after the sixth went wrong. His body rejected the cartilage and he suffered from necrosis, where the flesh withers and dies
Before turning himself into a ‘real life Ken doll’ Mr Alves said he was deeply unhappy with his looks and was bullied as a child
Last year, Mr Alves (pictured before surgery, left, and afterwards, right) was treated for Body Dysmorphic Disorder. But he believes he is simply a ‘perfectionist’
Mr Alves’ obsession about his appearance developed from severe bullying as a child and he as diagnosed with a hormone dysfunction which meant he was unable to develop muscle.
He said at school: ‘I was physically bullied, boys would push me down the stairs.’
‘When I was a kid I wanted to be beautiful and work as a flight attendant.
‘I was born in the wrong body. I’ve been through psychological treatment and treated for Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) here in England and New York.’
He decided to go under the knife for the first time in 2004 after struggling with the way he looked since childhood.
In the past 12 months he has spent an astonishing £95,000 on 20 surgeries all over the world.
Mr Alves said: ‘I’ve spent nearly £350,000 on procedures over the past 11 years and I needed some insurance. I pay a monthly premium and from now on if anything goes wrong I can get it fixed.
He is currently writing a book about his own life and is starring in three reality TV shows in the US and the UK
The surgery enthusiast maintains his latest look with laser combs, ultra-violet teeth whiteners and resurfacers
His latest nose job was paid for on the NHS, after he splashed out £15,000 on his sixth nose job, liposuction and a chin implant in Iran in January.
He also had a £25,000 hair transplant at the Beverly Hills Hair Restoration Clinic and cheek fat removed last August.
Additionally, he has spent £22,000 on a fake six pack, £7,000 on fillers to his arms, £7,000 on hospital bills, £7,000 on laser liposuction, £6,000 on leg liposuction and £3,000 on calf shaping.
He also indulges in twice-yearly Botox and filler top-ups and takes a cocktail of daily pills consisting of collagen tablets, anti-water retention and hair growth tablets.
Last year, he began treatment for Body Dysmorphia, an anxiety disorder that effects about one per cent of the population.
It causes a person to have a distorted view of how they look and to spend a lot of time worrying about their appearance.
Appearing on ITV’s This Morning programme, Mr Alves spoke of how he struggled to breathe through his nose after his sixth nose job
‘If I don’t like something about myself or my life I just change or do something about it,’ he said, adding that he plans to have more surgery in future
However, Mr Alves doesn’t believe he suffers from a mental health problem.
He said: ‘I am not crazy at all. I am just very brave and determined. People are entitle to think and to have their opinion about me and I respect that, but only those who actually know me, know the real me and the reasons that lead me to have transformed myself.
‘I can be easily be mistaken for someone who is addicted to plastic surgery, but then I wonder how one can be addicted to it since it is painful, expensive, and risky.
‘The fact is I have very high standards of living and I am a perfectionist in everything that I do and when it comes to my image I go an extra mile because I love my self.
‘If I don’t like something about myself or my life I just change or do something about it.’
Mr Alves said he pays for his operations through an inheritance from his Brazilian grandparents, his airline job and rental income from his property in Puerto Banus, Spain
Last August he had a £25,000 hair transplant at the Beverly Hills Hair Restoration Clinic (pictured afterwards)
‘I would like to get my eye lids done and I’m soon to have more hair implants,’ Mr Alves said
He says he is already planning to have more cosmetic work done.
He said: ‘Right now I think that I look great and I feel great. Due to past surgeries my facial skin needs a CO2 laser resurfacing treatment to remove the scars.
‘Also I would like to get my eye lids done and I’m soon to have more hair implants.
‘Enough is enough when it starts to impair activities in one’s personal life such as job and relationships.
‘I am a huge believer that today science has met technology which met beauty and there are so many procedures that people can do to live well with themselves and don’t involve plastic surgery.’
The 32 year-old has undergone a transformation in recent years and is now unrecognisable from his youth
Now that he has insured his body, he pays a premium but can have cosmetic surgery whenever he need it. He is pictured recovering from a rhinoplasty
Mr Alves said he doesn’t believe in letting aesthetics get in the way of real life. He said: ‘Enough is enough when it starts to impair activities in one’s personal life such as job and relationships
Mr Alves said he pays for his operations through an inheritance from his Brazilian grandparents, his airline job and rental income from his property in Puerto Banus, Spain.
He has also carved out a career as a TV personality – after appearing on various talk shows and programmes about body image and cosmetic surgery.
He said: ‘I have fans worldwide and they send me gifts and adorable messages of love and support.
‘Lots of then suffer bullying, discrimination and ask me for advice about how to deal with it.
‘It was not never my intention to look like a doll but due to my looks and style I have been nicknamed as the Human Ken Doll which is very flattering since the Barbie and the Ken doll represent the perfection of a female and male body form, and I just have a lot of fun with it.
‘The truth is that I’m only Rodrigo Alves, a guy who has reinvented himself and looks like a doll according to some people’s eyes.
‘A lot of people want to look like a celebrity or an idol, whereas I just want to be my own person and the best that I can be,’ Mr Alves said (left, after a nose job)
He has been told there is still a 50 per cent chance of necrosis of his nose and infection again. ‘But luckily I am okay so far,’ he said
He added he is now writing a book about his life, and will soon star in three reality TV shows in the UK and the US.
He said: ‘I would like to look ageless and unique, to be my own person and not like anyone else.
‘A lot of people want to look like a celebrity or an idol, whereas I just want to be my own person and the best that I can be.
‘My next plans are to look after myself after this latest surgery, detox and to carry on reinventing myself and to be the best that my body allows me to be.’