Gaddafi's plastic surgery exposed

Brazilian doctor reveals Libyan leader asked for hair plugs and for belly fat to be injected into his face to avoid looking old

Moammar Gaddafi wanted to be bold and beautiful.The Libyan strongman underwent cosmetic surgery in 1995, instructing a plastic surgeon to give him hair plugs and remove his belly fat to inject into his wrinkly face, a Brazilian doctor claims.


Bold and Beautiful:u00a0 Gaddafi hugs Vladimir Putin in April 2008 while
the effects of the operation still lasted. File Pic/Getty images

"He told me that he had been in power for 25 years at that time, and that he did not want the young people of his nation to see him as an old man," Dr Liacyr Ribeiro recounted."I recommended a face-lift, but he refused" because he feared it would look too obvious.

Gaddafi insisted the secret, four-hour surgery be done with local anesthesia because he wanted to be alert throughout the entire procedure.

The surgeon told Brazilian weekly Epoca that he's speaking out nowu00a0-- as Gaddafi fights rebels and Western coalition forcesu00a0-- because he wanted "to contribute to understanding this historic figure around whom there is much speculation but little information."

Ribeiro said he had been contacted in 1994 by then-Libyan Health Minister Mohamed Zaid while attending a conference in Tripoli.After the lecture, Zaid approached him and said he wanted to introduce him to someone special. Ribeiro thought he was going to be introduced to Zaid's wife.
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But the government official drove Ribeiro to a guarded home, where he met Gaddafi. The surgery was scheduled for the next year.Halfway through the procedure, which took place in the middle of the night Gaddafi took a break and ate a hamburger, said the prominent doctor, who is said to have performed cosmetic surgery on Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Gaddafi was 53-years-old at the time of the surgery. After he went under the knife, Ribeiro said, Gaddafi looked like a youthful 45-year-old.Dr Fabio Naccache, another Brazilian doctor who was part of the surgery team, confirmed Ribeiro's claims.

The doctor told Gaddafi, who's noticeably wrinklier today at the age of 68, that the results would last only five years. Ribeiro said Gaddafi requested another procedure five years ago but that Ribeiro had a family obligation at the time. "They never called me again," he said.

Going under the Knife
Other than Gaddafi, Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has also undergone plastic surgery. Berlusconi said that he only had surgery performed around his eyes and that he was in excellent health.

Did you know?
All of Gaddafi bodyguards are women, who are virgins. Gaddafi says he wants to see beautiful girls around him and wants to die in the lap of some beautiful virgin guard.

Surrender?
Forces loyal to Gaddafi are said to be negotiating to surrender to rebel troops in what could be a significant turning point in the conflict. A rebel commander, Ahmed Omar Bani, a former Libyan air force colonel said that local mullahs in the contested town of Ajdabiya had been used to mediate talks.