Celebrity dermatologist Dr. Fredric Brandt who counted Madonna, Stephanie Seymour and hairstylist Garren as clients, passed away today the New York Post is reporting. He was 65.
“If I have nice skin,” the ageless Madonna recently told the New York Times in an email, “I owe a lot to him.”
When Botox came on the scene almost two decades ago, Dr. Brandt was one of the drugs’ early and vocal proponents. The injectable transformed the beauty industry, giving those seeking the fountain of youth a surgery-free option that could be done over a lunch break. Dr. Brandt was a pioneer in the use of fillers, constantly testing their limits. “Fillers and Botox are the best procedures in lieu of surgery, because you can actually lift the face, re-contour, and restore volume with minimal to no downtime utilizing my Can-Ulift procedure,” Dr. Brandt told Vanity Fair last summer.
However, Dr. Brandt also admittedly used himself as a guinea pig. “I’ve been kind of a pioneer in pushing the limits to see how things work and what the look would be,” Dr. Brandt told the New York Times. “Would I change anything I’ve done? I might not have used as much Botox, because you don’t want to look quite as frozen.”
On his patients, however, Dr. Brandt told the New York Times that his goal ultimately was “to keep people working and feeling vital and good about themselves.” He added, “I want people to feel they haven’t given up on life and are still in the game.” With a booming practice in Manhattan and Coral Gables, Florida, a weekly radio show on SiriusXM, and a popular line of skincare, Dr. Brandt was as busy as ever at the time of his passing.
One of his clients, Jane Holzer wrote fondly of him in Interview magazine. “Out of curiosity, I accompanied a friend to her appointment, and I was amazed by the man I met,” wrote Holzer. “I didn’t expect this beauty magician to be so warm and alive, humming show tunes, snacking on almonds, and making jokes while working with his patients in a remarkably warm, personal, and intimate manner.”
