What has Mickey Rourke done to his face? Plastic surgeons weigh in on the procedures that have left him looking ‘like a melted candle’

Hit ITV show Celebrity Big Brother returned to TV on Monday, welcoming a host of well known faces into the house.

But contestant Mickey Rourke has already hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons. 

On Wednesday, fans demanded ‘vile’ Mickey, 72 be removed following flagrant homophobic comments the boxer-turned-Hollywood-star made towards his fellow housemate and former Dance Moms star JoJo Siwa.

It came two days after he was also slammed for his ‘creepy’ remarks towards AJ Odudu during the launch show. 

It’s not just his behaviour, however, that’s attracted attention: viewers have also taken notice of his face — and its ever changing appearance. 

‘Mickey Rourke’s face has really changed. I wouldn’t have known that was him,’ one user wrote on X. 

‘He’s a good actor. He was hot before he started abusing plastic surgery,’ another said.  

‘Mickey Rourke looks like a melted candle, respectfully,’ a third commented. 

Now, experts have weighed in, suggesting his face bears the hallmarks of a range of procedures. 

Houston based plastic surgeon Dr Christopher Balinger, said: ‘He’s clearly had a lot of surgery done. 

‘His nose looks completely different but I know he’s had a lot of facial trauma from boxing.

‘He’s definitely had a facelift, cheekbones are sunken in, jawline is totally different. He’s also definitely had lip filler or lip implants.

‘The lips just look odd. Then over time everything has just loosened up.’

Lip implants are a surgical procedure that — unlike filler — permanently increases the volume of the lip. 

The less popular procedure involves making small incisions in the corners of the mouth and inserting the implant — often silicone or extended polytetrafluoroethylene. 

Dr Omar Tillo, Harley Street plastic surgeon and medical director of the Creo Clinic, also told MailOnline it was ‘clear that cosmetic enhancements have played a big role in Mickey’s dramatic transformation’.

He added: ‘Over the years, he’s likely had facelifts to tighten sagging skin, as well as eyelid surgery to lift and smooth the eye area. 

‘His fuller cheeks and lips point to the use of dermal fillers or implants, while Botox has likely been used to soften lines.

‘Rourke may also have had a hair transplant, as his hairline appears fuller than it once did.’

Last year, Dr Gary Linkov, a top US plastic surgeon based in New York, also argued there had been a ‘major change’ in his face compared to earlier images. 

In a YouTube video watched more than 639,000 times, he said: ‘What sticks out is that upper third of the face. It just looks like it’s been overlifted.

‘This could have been the specific type of brow lift that he had. Nowadays surgeons tend to opt for lateral brow lifts.’

This is a minimally invasive surgical procedure that lifts the outer portion of the eyebrow and forehead, with smaller incisions within the hairline or just above the eyebrow.’

‘But classically, brow lifts were done collectively throughout the entire brow complex through some larger incisions,’ he added. 

‘When you’re lifting up an entire brow, it just doesn’t look natural. If you look at photos of him in his 30s, his brows were never too high up. 

‘Now you’ve created this unnatural appearance.’

Detroit based plastic surgeon Dr Anthony Youn, also told the video: ‘It’s important to remember that in plastic surgery 90 per cent of our patients are women and so these techniques in general are based off of the female face, not the male face.

‘So, if you’re getting work done as a male, unless you’re wanting to look more feminine those procedures are going to go in that direction.’

Mickey has previously admitted to undergoing cosmetic surgery to fix facial injuries.

Speaking to the Daily Mail in 2009, the New-York born athlete said: ‘Most of it was to mend the mess of my face because of the boxing, but I went to the wrong guy to put my face back together.

‘I had my nose broken twice. I had five operations on my nose and one on a smashed cheekbone.’

He added: ‘I had to have cartilage taken from my ear to rebuild my nose and a couple of operations to scrape out the cartilage because the scar tissue wasn’t healing properly.’

That same year, his first wife Debra Feuer claimed, while speaking to the Mirror, that Mickey’s bouts of procedures were largely because he was ‘so insecure’.

‘He got worse when he met his second wife, Carre Otis,’ the former actress — who was married to him from 1981 to 1989 — told the outlet.

‘That’s when the plastic surgery started. He’ll kill me for saying this but he wanted the part in one film so badly that he got cheek implants.

‘He told me he was swollen because he’d had his molar teeth removed. But I knew that was untrue — he didn’t have any molars to take out.’

In a TikTok video, Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. Daniel Barrett, also said: ‘The plastic surgeon probably used cheek implants to give you his look. 

‘His cheeks are noticeably swollen — the rumoured product of poorly placed implants.

‘I see some telltale signs of surgery on the nasal bridge and reconstruction, cheekbones, hairline disruption.’

In 2017, Mickey also took to Instagram himself to reveal he had undergone a nose job.

‘Moments after nose surgery with Dr. Dhir,’ he penned, along with a picture of himself bandaged up in a hospital bed. 

‘Now I am “pretty again”. I don’t know what day it is don’t even realize operation is over.’

A rhinoplasty, commonly referred to as a nose job, involves an operation either performed from inside the nostrils — a closed rhinoplasty — or by making a small cut on the nose.

By breaking and repositioning the side nasal bone, a surgeon can also reduce the width of the nose and achieve a narrower appearance.