Joe Biden will assuredly face tough questions on his presidential run, but indications are that he won’t be scrutinized over his appearance like Hillary Clinton was in 2016.
Chalk it up to male privilege, but the former vice president will not be criticized for the Botox, hair plugs and dental implants he has gotten over the years to maintain a youthful glow, cosmetic surgeons told the Washington Examiner.
This stands in stark contrast, however, to the way President Trump has been ridiculed for his spray tan and signature coiffure.
Biden’s vanity
The 76-year old Democrat has had unmistakable cosmetic procedures that started to become noticeable in 2008. Biden has allegedly undergone Botox treatments, adjusted his hairline and used fillers to reduce the appearance of facial wrinkles.
“In fact, he had bad plugs years ago,” said Dr. Barry Cohen, a Washington, D.C, plastic surgeon. “Subsequently, he filled in his frontal hairline to camouflage the bad ‘Barbie dollesque’ plugs. I suspect he has regular Botox and probably filler. If he had a face lift, he needs another.”
In 2012, dental surgeons speculated that Biden had been fitted with porcelain veneers or a porcelain bridge in a procedure that likely cost around $20,000. In 2009, Trident Gum used Biden’s grin to promote its chewing gum on a promotional website, JoeBiden’sTeeth.com.
Dr. Lawrence Koplin, a Beverly Hills, California plastic surgeon, said that Biden’s surgeons did an imperfect but pretty good job. He noted that Biden may have sought to reverse the aging induced by the stress of losing his son to brain cancer in 2015.
“It is not a stretch to imagine his desire to reach back to ‘freshen’ his appearance and rewind to a time when things were better and happier,” suggested Koplin.
No political liability
Mrs. Clinton’s appearance and rumored cosmetic surgery were subjected to critical reporting in conservative media during the 2016 election cycle. Sites like the Drudge Report ran headlines such as, “Fresh-Faced Hillary Glows at Lincoln Center.” Also, former Newsweek and News York Times editor Edward Klein claimed in a 2015 book about Clinton, Unlikable, that she underwent cosmetic procedures performed by a surgeon who worked out of a “mini operating room in her home with the latest medical equipment.”
Alas, Biden will get a pass on his surgeries because of his gender, said Dr. Tina Alster, director of the Washington Institute of Dermatologic Laser Surgery.
“Women are held to a higher standard,” she said.
However, President Trump has notably been lampooned for his orange spray tan and his distinctive hairstyle, with critics using these features to create a caricatured figure of fun. In 2018, Trump admitted that he “[tries] like hell to hide that bald spot.”
Alster and Cohen agreed that Biden’s numerous procedures will probably not be a big problem on the campaign trail. “No one cares anymore,” Cohen said.
“People may mention it, but he will probably just laugh it off,” Alster said.
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