A man in Brazil has become so obsessed with plastic surgery that he must now be fitted for a fake nose after his was taken by a flesh-eating infection.
32-year-old Rodrigo Alves, also known as “Barbie’s Ken,” has spent the last 10 years shelling out more than $445,000 worth of plastic surgery.
It wasn’t until his seventh nose job that Alves finally had to be hospitalized for necrosis, or tissue death, when he began noticing a gaping hole in his nose.
The hole started getting so large that Alves eventually had to be rushed to a hospital in Spain, where he was given antibiotics through an IV every eight hours.
Because he’s had so many different nose jobs, Alves doesn’t have enough bone or tissue in his face to reconstruct his nose.
Instead, surgeons will now have to take cartilage from his rib area and completely reconstruct his nose from scratch.
“I can't breathe through my nose and feel terrible. It has collapsed. I have been given an appointment with a consultant in London in six weeks time and then I'm hoping surgery can be as soon as possible after that,” he said.
If doctors cannot remove Alves’ nose immediately, the infection may spread to the rest of his face.
“My breathing has been getting worse for the last three days and now my nose is completely blocked,” he said. “A horrible hole has appeared in my nostril and the infection is eating my nose and I've been warned if it is not stopped it could eat into my face.”
Last year, Alves began treatment for Body Dysmorphia in hopes of coming to terms with the psychological problems surrounding his need to undergo plastic surgery time and time again.
