The Premiere Site For Celebrity Plastic Surgery By A Real Plastic Surgeon

I'm a Michigan-based Board Certified Plastic Surgeon who has been featured on Dr. 90210. The info here is my opinion alone and should not be taken as fact or as medical advice. I've not treated any of the celebrities presented here.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Katie Couric - Botox Brow?


Katie Couric looks a bit unusual lately. If anyone has watched the CBS Evening News recently, you may have noticed that her eyes and eyebrows look funny. What is going on?

Check out a recent segment here.
Compare it to this, aired a month ago.

In the more recent clip you may notice that her forehead doesn't move, her eyebrows are more arched, and she has an almost "angry" appearance. This is not seen in the older video. The older video does show her elevating her eyebrows and creating some wrinkles in her forehead. There are no forehead wrinkles seen in the recent clip.
I believe that this recent change is due to what I call the "Botox Brow." Botox can be injected into the forehead and between the eyebrows to remove wrinkles there. While it is very effective in doing this, it can create a side effect of an overly arched eyebrow which can make the person look angry, or sinister. The look does seem to diminish with time. I think she looks better without the Botox.
Another example of the Botox Brow, I believe, is Nicole Kidman.

Photo credit: photorazzi.com (taken a few months ago)

Thanks for reading.
Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.
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15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm from another planet and I've never seen Katie Couric but I watched the two videos and the change in her eyebrow arch is dramatic. In the pre-injection one she has totally horizontal brows. In the second one, she has an extreme arch, not where the arch should be aesthetically, but toward the end of the brow.

Regarding Nicole Kidman, her brows seem to be getting closer to her eyes rather than highly arched. What would cause that to happen?

When I save some money, I'll come to Michigan to get everything done.

Anonymous said...

I noticed how BIZARRE Katie Couric looked last night and glad that someone addressed the problem. I looked all over for SNARKY comments from the NYC Tabloids (NY Post NY Daily News) but nothing was there.

What the hell was she thinking, she is a fairly attractive high-profile woman... couldn't she have waited until she went on vacation to get injected and then wait a little bit for the BOTOX to have worn off some before presenting her SCARY face to the 8 million people that watch her every night.

GEEZ, no wonder women can't grow old gracefully.

Katie my advice is to NEVER do botox again, just be yourself!

Anonymous said...

As a 47 year old woman who has been thinking about having botox done on my elevens and forhead what questions should I ask my doctor before I have it done. I don't want to look like Katie. Any advice Dr. Youn?

Anonymous said...

...Wow, she kinda looks like the Grinch in that first clip.

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU for mentioning this. I was on the treadmill working out and was flipping through channels when I saw Katie Couric and thought, "OH MY GOSH, she looks just like an angry bee! WHAT HAPPENED?!" I agree with the third comment that it is surprising that no one else has mentioned this (not even awful plastic surgery dot com)!

Anonymous said...

So let's talk more scientifically about Katie and her Botox misadventures. First. everyone should understand that Botox is a wonderful product. It's the "injector" that is usually the problem. For Katie,her sinister brow contour is purely a poor Botox injection regimen. Luckily it should resolve in 3-4 months on its own. The issue is the following.
There are two vitally important muscles that create the contour of the eyebrow-the frontalis muscle which raises the brow and the orbicularis musle that lowers the brow. The interplay of these two forces is what creates a pleasing or in Katie's case a not so pleasing contour. Weaking the outer orbicularis can elevate the brow and create a high lateral arch . When combined with central frontalis weakening which can lower the inner brow. we get the sinister "Joker" look. Not very flattering for a personality like Katie. So clearly the prob lem is that whoever injected her Botox didn't understand the dynamics of the brow muscles and created an obvious deformity. The Botox obviously worked but the "injector" did not. Luckily with time this will completely resolve. Some additional Botox in the lateral frontalis could at least bring the outer brow down some and make her look more human.

Anonymous said...

I partial agree however your assessment was incomplete. I believe she had a glabellar injection even before the old video. It appears she may even have a touch of ptosis of the left levator. The second video appears as though she received additional injections to the frontalis and the lateral orbicularis giving her the sinister look.....Keep it up. Maybe a little less self promotion but good stuff anyway.

Dr. Tony Youn said...

Anon and Dr. Hainer-
Thanks for your comments. I believe you guys are spot on with your observations. I have seen this type of look rarely, and have treated it with, like Dr. Hainer wrote, Botox injections to the lateral frontalis. It has usually made a nice difference.
As far as self-promotion... I'm trying to straddle the line of entertaining 'information' while doing a little self-promotion along the way. Hopefully I will never go too far onto the self-promotion side. (I'm sure someone will tell me if I do!) There are too many blogs out there that only self-promote, so I am conscious of this. But I figure that if I put the time I do into this project, I might as well reap some of the benefits! Thanks again!

Anonymous said...

I am always confused when I see these celebrities with "frozen forehead" or bad results from botox. I have had it twice, just in the furrow area above nose and between brows, and I love the fact that it keeps me from squinting but I can still move my eyebrows up and down. I just can't squint but I don't look any different.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I have noticed it too! It looks very strange, and I am also surprised more people aren't talking about this. . . I was also searching the internet to see if people were talking about it! Katie should find a better doctor!

Anonymous said...

I noticed Katie's forehead and didn't say anything. (I felt bad for her. It's hard for women in America to age gracefully with all of the pressure society puts on them to look younger, let alone if you're scrutinized like our celebrities.) I was surprised when my husband even noticed! It's just...sad. She doesn't look like herself. Yet I bet if she didn't do anything and she had wrinkles, people would be writing about that or worse yet: She wouldn't even have her job because too many Americans just don't want to see aging women on tv.

annadd said...

My Dr told me that less is more with botox but when I thought it didn't look much different I asked for more, then only the outside corner of my eyebrow moved. Is that the botox brow? It looked a bit better when it started to wear off. My Dr said that botox relaxes the muscles, so I don't understand how it gives a lifting effect?

Anonymous said...

OH. MY. GOSH. I was expecting...well I don't know what I was expecting, but certainly not this dramatic, chilling before and after! WHY KATIE??? You looked fine before! Stop the insanity...

Anonymous said...

I realize that this is an older blog; I just watched the Law and Order with Lara Flynn Boyle in it and HAD to google; didn't think it was her, hubs kept insisting her name was in the credits.
About katie, here; I think she has definitely had some work done since this was posted in 2007. Everytime I see her it is like another face?

Anonymous said...

You know I watched Katie Couric on the interview with Sarah Palin and I thought, my she looks better than ever. .. I must look at the 2 clips to see what everyone is talking about b/c she looked younger than Palin in my eyes.