Priscilla Presley Looked So Different Before Undergoing Plastic Surgery

For a long time, Priscilla Presley seemed like a fixed point in the American imagination. With black hair that touched the heavens, skin that looked poured from porcelain, feline eyeliner, and an unending dreamscape of mod fashion, she became a figure of near-mythic glamor. In her memoir, she recounted pausing to apply false lashes before heading to the hospital to give birth. Beauty was a non-negotiable; nothing would interrupt the ritual.

But even the most practiced performance can become difficult to sustain. Those born in 1945, as Priscilla was, will know better than most that youth is but a temporary inheritance. Her features, once recognizable for their ethereal elegance, began to take on an unnerving rigidity. The change was dramatic enough to spark speculation: multiple facelifts, Botox, and a nose job. Over time, the effects of overfilled cheeks and an over-reliance on injectables left her face looking swollen and unnatural. Of course, all faces change over time, but the artificial nature of Priscilla's metamorphosis has only exacerbated the uncanny distance between past and present.

It is perhaps no surprise that Priscilla Presley continues to spend years chasing youth through plastic surgery. After all, she was introduced to Elvis at just 14 years old — a child cast in the role of muse. Groomed into womanhood under the spotlight and paired with a man who prized innocence and appearance above all, she was fixed early as the embodiment of a fantasy. When a young girl is valued for her beauty before she's even finished growing into it, is it any wonder she feels as though aging was a threat to the very identity she was taught to preserve? The culture that celebrated her beauty gave her little room to age with it.

These days, we can invoke Priscilla's visage as a cautionary tale; it's a reminder of the risks to know about before getting plastic surgery. In 2008, TMZ confirmed she had been the recipient of a botched cosmetic procedure performed by an unqualified, unlicensed doctor, Daniel Serrano — a former nurse from Argentina who made a name for himself in Los Angeles by offering discounted injections to people who should have, but didn't, know better.

Quite staggeringly, Serrano bypassed FDA-approved fillers (and the tips to make sure it stayed undetectable) in favor of an industrial silicone used in car parts. His clients, many of them relatively high-profile, later reported facial lumps, paralysis, and cratered skin. According to court testimony, Serrano administered injections in private homes and at cocktail parties, where guests lined up for $500 injections (which he claimed would fix wrinkles permanently) between drinks. Serrano was arrested and sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy, smuggling, and the use of unapproved drugs.

Presley's spokesperson issued a statement distancing her from the scandal's seedier details, noting simply that she had been "one of many documented victims of Dr. Serrano," and had "dealt with this matter." But the damage was already visible in Presley's once-iconic face. Of course, she's still beautiful, but she remains now altered, almost beyond recognition.