One of aesthetic medicines most notable characters, Dr Patrick Treacy shares some of his favourite anecdotes from his extraordinary memoir and reveals why he finally decided to lift the mask.

1. AUTOBIOGRAPHY | DR PATRICK TREACY
One of aesthetic medicines
most notable characters,
Dr Patrick Treacy shares some
of his favourite anecdotes
from his extraordinary memoir
– and reveals why he finally
decided to lift the mask.
The Irishman
Behind the Mask
I
t’s been said that adversity creates
opportunity – and it was during one of these
periods in his life that one of the best-known
aesthetic practitioners in the world sat down
to write a memoir about his life and his work.
Dr Patrick Treacy’s autobiography, Behind The
Mask – The Extraordinary Story of the Irishman
who Became Michael Jackson’s Doctor, is so
much more than a glimpse into the lives of the
rich and famous and their relentless pursuit
of physical perfection. In fact, even the
chapters that deal with Dr Treacy’s unique
relationship with the King of Pop are but
a fraction of the whole story.
Triumph over adversity
Written during the time of one of the
world’s most devastating economic
downturns, Dr Treacy describes
Behind The Mask as a recession
book. “It was at a stage in my life
where my lifestyle changed, from
one where I was going out every
night, to spending more time at
home.” Finding himself alone with
his thoughts for the first time in
a long while, the writing of his
memoir created an opportunity
to come to terms with the
loss of love, the loss of his
parents, the reconciliation
of regrets and a reflection
on some of life’s most
epic adventures.
31AESTHETIC & ANTI-AGEING | ISSUE 21

2. attended the
Royal College
of Surgeons.
Unfortunately this
was at the time of
Margaret Thatcher’s
administration, which
almost put an end to his
studies with a sudden cut to his
grant. Yet never one to back down, the
budding doctor soon found another
lucrative (albeit dubious) way to raise
funds – the smuggling of high-end
German vehicles to Turkey.
For the love of medicine
Dr Treacy believes that his passion
for cosmetic medicine may have been
born on a late summer evening in
1983 in Kiato, a small coastal town of
the Greek northern Peloponese. As a
medical student, he was supporting the
local doctor who was assisting patients
with splints and sutures following an
earthquake. “During the evening, I had
to sew a young girl’s beautiful face that
had been torn apart with two great
lacerations – which ran all the way from
the corner of her mouth and nose to
the bottom of her chin,” he says. “I
placed over one hundred sutures in her
face. After I had finished, her mother
broke into tears, and cried a hundred
thank-you’s.” Dr Treacy reflects that it
was at this moment, somewhere amid
all that chaos, where he found his
destiny. “I wanted to return to medical
school in the autumn of that year and
try apply my talents into restoration of
facial features with plastic surgery, or
by helping people retain their youthful
features for as long as possible.”
After years of dedication, Dr Treacy
finally had his medical degree, but a
cruel twist of fate
would eventually
lead him down the path
of philanthropy. While working in a
hospital in Dublin, a needle he had
used to draw blood from a heroin-
addicted patient with HIV jabbed him
in the leg. Now this was in 1987,
where HIV/Aids was shrouded in fear
and mystery, and ignorance made
people believe it was an instant death
sentence. Forced to go for one blood
test after another, Dr Treacy finally
had a colleague surgically remove a
significant lump from his leg to prevent
the risk of infection.
Although he never contracted the
disease, the rejection and fear he felt
from fellow colleagues left a bitter taste.
He therefore decided to set off to New
Zealand soon after, for what would be a
long series of international posts.
Philanthropy at work
From a respiratory and cardiology
registrar in New Zealand, Dr Treacy
joined the Royal Flying Doctor Service,
which took him to Australia and East
Africa. This was followed by a stint as a
ship’s surgeon with Carnival Cruise line.
And then, while living with the Marsh
Arabs in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, he tried
to submit an article to the Fermanagh
Herald, for which he was arrested by
the Iraqi army. He was detained for five
days, where upon his release, he flew to
Copenhagen, then to Dublin, and finally
to the West. “Perhaps one of the most
frustrating feelings you have when you
work in these parts of the world is that
you have all the knowledge to
help the patients, but none
of the resources you so
desperately need to do
so,” Dr Treacy says.
Local love
During the early
1990s, Dr Treacy
also developed
a love affair with
South Africa. Waiting
for the release of
Nelson Mandela, he
finally set foot on local
soil in 1992 and, over the
course of his life, he has lived
in and visited the country repeatedly.
Never one to shy from controversy, Dr
Treacy ripped into the local Department
of Health during a speech at a local
conference in 2011, where he berated
government for the absurd opinions that
HIV/Aids could be properly managed by
diet – specifically potatoes and garlic.
But as early as 1998, the doctor had
already predicted the rising HIV epidemic
would not be controlled by the flawed
government policies of that period. Like
many of us locals, Dr Treacy has a deep
love for South Africa, combined with
exasperation for the seemingly endless
trail of challenges it faces.
It was this frustration that prompted
him to highlight his concerns in award
winning articles in the western press
and Irish medical journals. In fact, these
32 A2 AESTHETIC & ANTI-AGEING MAGAZINE | ISSUE 21 A2Magazine @A2_Magazine @A2Magazine www.a2magazine.co.za
AUTOBIOGRAPHY | DR PATRICK TREACY
“I wanted
to try apply my
talents into restoration
of facial features
with plastic surgery, or
by helping people
retain their youthful
features for as long
as possible.”
Coming of age
Born in the
1950s, in the tiny
rural village of
Garrison in County
Fermanagh, Northern
Ireland, Treacy’s parents
ran a shop, garage and filling
station. The young Patrick had his
heart set on a career in medicine, but
found himself growing up in a time
when Northern Ireland was gripped by
ethno-nationalist conflict (known as The
Troubles), which raged through Northern
Ireland from the 1960s to late 1990s.
While studying at Queens University in
Belfast, Patrick was caught up in some
of the conflict himself, which resulted in
a heavy beating and a broken leg. This
incident culminated in him transferring
to the far more cosmopolitan Dublin
(at his mother’s insistence), where he

3. The celebrity
patient
turned friend
It was during
the early
hours of one
morning in
2006, where
Dr Treacy was
to meet a mystery
patient at his clinic in
Ireland. Apparently, it’s
not unusual for famous faces
to request unusual consulting times to
avoid unwanted media attention. “So,
imagine my bemusement when one of
the most famous faces in the world said:
‘Hello, I’m Michael Jackson. I’ve heard a
lot about your work and I would like to
become your patient’. He also added a
‘thank-you’ for the work you do for the
people of Africa.”
Dr Treacy goes on to document the
bond between doctor and patient that
eventually led to an unlikely friendship,
with Dr Treacy even visiting with Jackson
and his children at their family home
in Ireland on a regular basis. While
Dr Treacy has doggedly refused to
discuss the treatments the pop icon
requested, he is open about the fact
that Jackson did suffer from some form
of body dysmorphia. He has also been
open about the
devastating
impact that
vitiligo, a
pigmentation
skin condition,
had on Jackson’s
life – not to
mention the
numerous scars that
covered his body. It
was also Jackson himself
that facilitated a conversation
between Nelson Mandela and Dr Treacy,
as both men were determined to
bring an HIV/Aids concert to Rwanda.
Dr Treacy has always remained a loyal
supporter of Jackson, and one of the
biggest defenders of his character.
Despite the King of Pop’s foibles
and eccentricities, Dr Treacy believes
that Jackson was an exceptionally
good man, and remains one of his
staunchest ambassadors.
An extraordinary life
Having travelled to more than 80
countries before he had even touched
the age of 23, Dr Treacy has a knack
for being at the right or wrong place at
the right time: from the fall of the Berlin
Wall, to helping with disaster relief
programmes following 9/11 and the
earthquake that
ravaged Haiti. His
life is also filled with
an endless stream
of famous and loveable
faces – Nelson Mandela,
Mother Theresa, Bono, John Lennon
and even Lady Diana Spencer.
Of the rich and famous, Dr Treacy
shares with good humour some of their
most bizarre eccentricities, like their
refusal to pay their bills, or the fact
that many suffer from various forms of
kleptomania, lining bags and pockets
with expensive lotions and potions from
the clinic.
It’s a long way from his humble origins
in Garrison, County Fermanagh, but
Behind The Mask is a tour de force
around the globe, filled with suspense,
sadness, love and adventure.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY | DR PATRICK TREACY
are the very articles that caught the
attention of Michael Jackson, and what
made the legend of pop music seek out
Dr Treacy in his hometown.
Altering the field of aesthetic
medicine
When he returned to Ireland, Dr
Treacy set up the Ailesbury Clinic,
where he worked at the cutting edge
of cosmetic dermatology. Being
a notable advocate of treatments
such as botulinum toxin, he is an
outspoken critic of the lack of
regulation in the field. Dr Treacy is
also considered one of the most
influential aesthetic practitioners in
the world, having forever altered the
field of aesthetic medicine. He has
additionally pioneered techniques
and protocols relating to dermal
filler complications, wound healing,
facial endoprostheses for HIV facial
lipodystrophy patients, and radio-
surgery venous thermocoagulation.
Among his globally recognised awards
(and as one of the most sought-
after speakers globally), he is still
the driving force behind countless
humanitarian efforts that impact the
lives of children in developing nations.
Dr Treacy
is considered
one of the most
influential aesthetic
practitioners in the
world, having forever
altered the field of
aesthetic medicine
34 A2 AESTHETIC & ANTI-AGEING MAGAZINE | ISSUE 21 A2Magazine @A2_Magazine @A2Magazine www.a2magazine.co.za
1 Dr Patrick Treacy with Bono at the UN
Humanitarian Awards
2 A shared African passion: it was Michael
Jackson himself that facilitated a conversation
between Nelson Mandela and Dr Treacy, as both
men were determined to bring an HIV/Aids concert
to Rwanda
3 Local love: like many of us South Africans,
Dr Treacy has a deep love for the country,
combined with exasperation for the seemingly
endless trail of challenges it faces
4 Accepting an AMEC Award in Paris in 2016
5 Dr Treacy with Bishop Dorcillien
1 3
2
4
5
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