by Lloyd Grove, "NY Daily News" 1/29/04:
The Political Forehead Front
Democratic presidential front-runner John Kerry can't seem to put that knotty Botox issue to rest.
Two prominent New York plastic surgeons - after examining "before" and "after" photos posted on the Drudge Report - told Lowdown yesterday that Kerry exhibits all the signs of a Botox injection.
"Not only is it Botox, but it's classic bad Botox," said Dr. Michael Kane, a surgeon in private practice.
"His forehead is just way too smooth. It looks weird. It's a bizarre appearance that he's got not a wrinkle. That doesn't happen to 60-year-olds."
Dr. Gerald Ember, an attending plastic surgeon at New York Presbyterian Hospital, agreed.
"The pictures ... show a marked absence of the horizontal lines of the forehead and wrinkles between the eyes. Only Botox or a forehead lift would do this," he said. "And I say good for him!"
In a Tuesday interview with a Boston radio station, the Massachusetts senator was asked about Lowdown's Tuesday item. Kerry "absolutely" denied receiving Botox treatments, and added: "I've never even heard it. Where did this come from? ... I've never even heard of it. Never heard of it."
It was unclear whether Kerry meant he had "never heard" of Botox - which his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, has publicly acknowledged using - or merely that he never heard of the Botox rumors concerning him.
Last year, Kerry denied to a Boston Globe reporter that he had a medical problem - only to acknowledge later that he had been successfully treated for prostate cancer. Kerry explained the fib by saying he wanted to tell his family first.
Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter - who has been trying for the past week to kill the Botox rumor fueled by rival campaigns - told me Lowdown's plastic surgery experts are wrong. "Since when do doctors make diagnoses based on pictures? John Kerry has not ever had any injections of Botox or any other cosmetic procedure done .... It's ridiculous that people are focusing on this and not on real issues."
Cutter added: "There's nothing like coming from behind and winning two very important presidential primaries to make somebody look better."
I'm starting to wonder if this seemingly nutty tabloid story doesn't have serious implications for Kerry.
What if it's true?
What if this man who wants to be our next President is resorting to cosmetic procedures favored by the likes of Joan Rivers in order to make himself look less like a Sharpei?
Could he ever live down the ridicule?
