*WARNING: GRAPHIC SURGERY IMAGES *
'Human Ken Doll' Rodrigo Alves is warning others about facial procedures after having fibrosis and 200 threads removed during revision surgeries.
The Brazilian-born star, 35, intended to start the new year with a new face, after noticing his eyes, cheeks and nose were drooping - but he was in for a concerning surprise.
After going under the knife for five hours with the Persian Beauty clinic in Tehran, Iran, surgeons not only removed 5cm of skin from his face but also a shocking 200 threads and fibroids (the thickening and scarring of connective tissue).
He believes they were from previous facial surgeries and procedures that inject dissolvable threads in a spider web formation to make the face tighter by stimulating collagen production.
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Over three years, he had more than 700 of them injected into his face, the last time being four months ago.
Rodrigo started more operations this week in a keen bid to silence online trolls, who told him he had a 'pillow face' and looked like a 'potato'.
Next week he will complete surgeries to replace his square chin implant with a diamond shaped one (sounds...fancy?) and have his 11th nose revision to help him breathe.
This will take him up to 69 surgeries and more than £600,000 ($774,300) in total, altering every inch of his body, from rib removals to pec implants, lift procedures, Botox and more.
Rodrigo said: "I noticed my face was naturally starting to change - my lips were getting lower, my eyes, nose and cheeks were dropping. On New Year's Eve I looked at myself and thought, 'New year, new face,' and booked the surgeries.
"But when surgeons opened up my face, it was full of fibrosis that they had to remove. It took so long that they couldn't replace my silicone chin implant. It took them five hours for a revision face, eye and lip lift, and to remove all of the fibrosis and 200 threads inside my face.
"It was quite shocking as they are very good doctors - Iran is very big in facial plastic surgery and their standards are very high here. There were lots of different lumps alongside the threads, it looked like spaghetti and meatballs.
"I believe this was why my face was so puffy and people called me pillow or potato face. The thread lift procedures are advertised as a 'face lift on your lunch break' or in 'half an hour' but they don't work.
"I experimented with them as I have tried everything on the market for aesthetics, but they only made my face very hard and filled with a lot of blood.
"I was told the threads dissolve over time, but also I have had the procedure done a lot of times so maybe my body just couldn't handle it.
"If you read the side-effects, they can create fibrosis, giving you lumps. For me personally, I don't believe the procedure helps at all.
"I have to rest a lot now, my next surgeries have been put on hold, and I will need to keep taking my medication.
"When I look in the mirror now my face is very round and stretched, my eyes are sliced and it's very hard to move my face, it looks like a football."
While awaiting his next time under the knife, Rodrigo has been inside a Hyperbaric Oxygen Tank.
The therapy is typically used to speed up healing for people with diabetes and divers overcoming decompression sickness.
Inside the tank, air pressure is increased to three times higher than normal.
This allows the lungs to gather more oxygen, which can help the body fight off bacteria and promote stem cell production, allowing it to heal quicker.
Rodrigo said: "Nobody has this therapy after a face lift, it's recommended for people with diabetes who have a deficiency for healing. But me being me, I wanted it done, as it's good for healing inside and out."
But operating on his nose for an 11th time carries its own risks, bearing an increased chance of Rodrigo developing necrolysis, which would cause the skin tissue to die.
Rodrigo said: "My surgeon guaranteed he can fix my breathing, so finally I will be able to breathe again but there is a risk that my skin will not tolerate the surgery.
"If necrolysis develops it could mean I will lose my nose, so I am on antibiotics and hyperbaric oxygen therapy to reduce the risk of that.
"There is definitely a risk of necrolysis but there are ways to reduce that and I will defeat it if it happens."
Rodrigo says he is in a constant battle to retain his looks now - mainly needing surgery to fix previous mistakes or maintenance work.
He advises others against having thread-based procedures, not believing they have worked for him.
Rodrigo said: "I would say the only things that do work are Botox, fillers, muscle therapy and vitamins - in my opinion the threads do not work.
"They just stimulate collagen and can create fibrosis in the skin."
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