Did President Donald Trump, 71, undergo scalp reduction surgery? A video of Trump making his way up the steps to Air Force One on February 2 went viral after the camera caught a closeup of the back of his head. As his hair blew in the wind, a scar of what appears to be from an incision was exposed; Or, at least that’s what the internet guessed after the video was viewed by millions. The mark on the back of his head reignited speculation that Trump underwent scalp reduction surgery in 1989. In 1990, Trump’s ex-wife Ivana claimed he had scalp reduction surgery [in 1989], in a divorce deposition. Ivana alleged that he had been operated on by plastic surgeon Steven Hoefflin, whose former clients included Michael Jackson, Joan Rivers and Elizabeth Taylor.
However, Trump denied Ivana’s claims in 1993, and has since maintained that his hair is his own, without any aiding procedures. Trump and Ivana were married from 1977-1992. The debate surrounding Trump’s hair was hashed up once again in Michael Wolff‘s book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. Wolff too claimed the president has had scalp reduction surgery. The procedure, which can be performed on both men and women, is done to treat hair loss, especially balding on the top of the head. It involves cutting away pieces of skin on the scalp that has hair loss to cover bald areas.
After Trump’s apparent scar in the video went viral, Johns Hopkins University professor of otolaryngology Dr Lisa Ishii, as well as Dr. Samuel Lam, owner of the Texas-based Lam Institute for Hair Restoration both weighed in. Both professionals had opposing opinions, with Ishii telling The Daily Beast that it’s doubtful Trump underwent scalp reduction surgery, “an outdated procedure.” However, she suggested he may have had a hair transplant, adding, “If you have the money and connection to have a hair transplant you do it.”
Ishii, who is a hair transplantation specialist, also admitted that scalp reduction surgery is quite difficult and isn’t resolved in one procedure. “Scalp skin is very stiff skin. It’s very hard to pull together the skin edges and get them to close to each other if you cut out anything beyond a half dollar size piece of skin,” she said. “If you had a large bald area, you’d have to have several procedures in a row before you actually achieved your goal to cut out the bald spot,” Ishii continued. “You can’t do it in one fell swoop.”
Lam, on the other hand, disagreed with Ishii. “Yes, if you see a vertical incision on the back of the scalp on the crown, that’s very typical of a scalp reduction,” he told the The Daily Beast. “Given how common scalp reduction surgery was in the 1990s, Lam said it’s, “most likely, he [Trump] had it.”
Trump boarded Air Force One at Joint Air Base Andrews before flying to Mar-a-Lago on February 2. Watch the video above, and see a closeup image of his apparent scar, below.
HollywoodLifers, do you think Trump’s hair is his own?