The prevalence of photo-sharing apps such as Instagram has helped mould society's conception of what is considered to be "attractive". Bombarded by images of perfectly-retouched celebrities, we can't help but aspire to the near-impossible standards of beauty that appear on the covers of magazines, billboards and our social media feeds. Certainly, we live in a world where the people that we vicariously live through have gained fame and fortune by being born into the right family, or by winning the genetic lottery. Instagram models spend hours editing and perfecting their selfies, before releasing them to their legion of fans who are in awe of their contouring skills and figures that remain "beach body ready", come rain or shine. As such, we consumers are trapped in a vicious cycle of denouncing these ideals, yet simultaneously trying to live up to them. Indeed, the man who has been dubbed the "Human Ken Doll" has openly asserted that he enjoys being part of a "new generation of a modern society", in which he can easily reinvent himself with plastic surgery. [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BYOJBuXnzTh/?taken-by=rodrigoalvesuk]] Rodrigo Alves looked like a different person before he had £450,000 worth of plastic surgery. The 34-year-old has repeatedly stated that he believes that he was born into the wrong body. As such, he has spent nearly half of his life undergoing various procedures to achieve what he believes to be bodily "perfection". Now, he wants to share just how much progress he has made towards his goal. On an Instagram post, he wrote: "I was not born this way ! I made my self this way. It has been a very long journey for me and it is a On going process, i represent I new generation of a modern society where we have the freedom to be what you wanna be and showcase that on social network. It feels good to be at home and to be able to let me hair down barefoot no make up no fancy clothing no noise only the sound of the birds singing and the breeze from the sea that blows the trees around my house." [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BYipXv4HwWP/]] Alves has now undergone 58 operations, the first of which occurred in the year 2000. And his quest to achieve the look of the plastic doll has taken him all over the world. Speaking to the Sun Online, Alves revealed that he has sought out the best plastic surgeons in the USA, as well as Brazil, Europe and the Middle East, to help him become his "true self". Certainly, looking at photographs of Alves prior to his surgeries reveals just how dramatic the transformation was: Speaking to the Sun Online, Alves said: "I was born in the wrong body and I have spent my entire life trying to reveal the real me. Now I’ve achieved my dream face and body I plan to stop the ageing process using stem cell technology. I’ve already had lots of them injected into my face, scalp and bloodstream. My aim to always look ageless and maintain my unique looks, after all there is no other man or another Rodrigo Alves that looks like me. I get a lot of attention due to my artificial looks – but I finally love myself and that is the most important thing of all." Alves disclosed that his desire for such drastic transformation stemmed from being bullied at school. "At age of 17 I had my first plastic surgery [...] I had boobs as you saw - I was bullied at school for that. I had my face pushed against the urinal because I had a wide nose." And implying that it all could have been different if he'd received some support either at school or at home, he continued: "my parents were going through divorce so I didn’t bother them. If they had noticed or the teachers had it would have been a very different situation." He has since attended therapy sessions in an attempt to try to understand the motives behind his actions. "After one year of treatment, the doctors agreed that I was perfectly sane but that I just had a mirror image issue. I can only describe it as having a feeling that I was born in the wrong body. In my dreams I look a certain way, but then getting up in the morning and looking at myself in the mirror I didn’t recognise myself." Since becoming an official ambassador on the subject of body image and plastic surgery by the Aesthetic Academy in the USA, however, Alves has decided to tone it down on the surgery front. He recently announced that he is no longer going to be getting a gastric bypass, but will be hitting the gym instead. [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BX56zQnn2EN/?taken-by=rodrigoalvesuk]] Here's to hoping that Alves learns to be content with his appearance. After all, all those surgeries can be rather pricey...

Rodrigo Alves is at it again. The 35-year-old model and reality TV star, better known as the Human Ken Doll, has had yet more surgery in order to change up his appearance - this time to correct some previous work he'd had done.

And it ain't pretty.

In a series of images, Alves shared the aftermath of a five-hour face reduction surgery, during which he had five cm (two inches) of skin plus 200 threads and fibrosis - the scarring of connective tissue - removed. The process should lessen the swollen appearance he has become so known for.

"Hi everyone I've just woken up, feeling quite drowsy," he posted on social media earlier this week. "The surgery went great, the doctors were able to reduce the size of my face."

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Caters News Agency]]

The operation, which went ahead in Iran, was supposedly performed in order to prepare Alves for two other surgeries: a replacement for his silicone chin implant, which was performed on Tuesday, plus a nose job - his 11th, amazingly - which is due to take place today.

The Human Ken Doll warned against the use of threadlifts - dissolvable threads which make the face tighter by stimulating collagen production - saying that the procedure had made his skin too firm.

"I had a lot of fibrosis due to threadlifts and my skin was hard," he said.

This may have had something to do with how many threadlifts Alves has undergone, however, as he has reportedly had more than 700 threads injected into his face over the past three years - the last procedure taking place just four months ago.

The surgery clearly isn't an instant fix, though, as this is how the social media sensation looked shortly afterwards:

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Caters News Agency]]

This operation and the following two were apparently part of Alves' "New Year, new face" resolution.

"I noticed my face was naturally starting to change - my lips were getting lower, my eyes, nose and cheeks were dropping," he revealed.

"On New Year's Eve I looked at myself and thought 'New year, new face' and booked the surgeries. But when surgeons opened up my face it was full of fibrosis that they had to remove, it took so long that they couldn't replace my silicone chin implant. It took them five hours for a revision face, eye and lip lift, and to remove all of the fibrosis and 200 threads inside my face.

"It was quite shocking as they are very good doctors, Iran is very big in facial plastic surgery and their standards are very high here."

So high are the standards, in fact, that the doctors allowed Alves to keep a little bit of his skin in a jar after. Nice.

[[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BspiihylxYp/]]

As well as these latest surgeries being for aesthetic purposes, they're also for Alves' wellbeing. The nose surgery, in particular, is necessary for the social media star to be able to breathe normally again - but the procedure comes with its own risks.

"My surgeon guaranteed he can fix my breathing, so finally I will be able to breathe again but there is a risk that my skin will not tolerate the surgery," he explained. "If necrolysis develops it could mean I will lose my nose, so I am on antibiotics and hyperbaric oxygen therapy to reduce the risk of that. There is definitely a risk of necrolysis but there are ways to reduce that and I will defeat it if it happens."

Despite the obvious dangers associated with his surgeries, then, it seems obvious that Rodrigo Alves has no intention of stopping. How much further can his obsession go? Well, if his blasé attitude towards skin necrolysis is anything to go by, probably pretty far indeed.

Plastic surgery has become more prolific and increasingly complex over the years, with all manner of transformations available - both minor changes and complete overhauls. Firmly in the latter category is Rodrigo Alves, who you more likely know by the moniker 'The Human Ken Doll'. Alves has spent over $500,000 on surgeries over the years, a practice he has been keeping up since he was only 19-years-old. Now 34-years-old, he has had over 50 plastic surgeries and more than 100 cosmetic procedures, making him practically unrecognisable from how he looked as a teenager. [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BcW-n1pHoXi/]] Many of us look a lot different from how we did as teenagers. Whether we've dyed our hair, grown it out, committed to a beard, or completely revolutionised our taste in clothes, looking back at our childhood photos can be a strange experience for those who didn't notice at the time. For Alves, this is a little more extreme, once you take into account he has spent $29,000 on a fake six-pack, $13,000 on pec implants, and $4,000 on liposuction. The full list of procedures he had is truly astounding, as he explains: "I have had a hair implant, a brow lift, eye lifts, my ears pinned back, cheeks redesigned, my jawline shaped, I’ve had cheek implants twice, the sides if my lips cut out in order to give me a bigger wider smile. I have had fillers injected into my shoulders, biceps, triceps, my abs – my six pack is purely plastic surgery." But what did he look before all these changes? Long before his unforgettable looks earned him 383,000 followers on Instagram, he looked like this: Speaking to the Sun, he explained exactly what his future plans are for his image, and how he plans on becoming "ageless": "Now I've achieved my dream face and body I plan to stop the ageing process using stem cell technology. I've already had lots of them injected into my face, scalp and bloodstream" "My aim to always look ageless and maintain my unique looks. After all there is no other man or another Rodrigo Alves that looks like me. I get a lot of attention due to my artificial looks - but I finally love myself and that is the most important thing of all." Yet he believes he can do some good with his position in the spotlight. "I have become an official ambassador on the subject of body image and plastic surgery," he said of his newfound fame. "I have been honoured by the Aesthetic Academy in the USA and from now on I am will be speaking openly about plastic surgery to break the taboos and to teach people from my own experiences in a simple and easy going way without medical terminology." Seeing how far Alves has come in the last decade or so, we can only imagine how far he could go in the future if he continues on at the same rate.

The saga of this rich, plastic surgery infatuated man continues, 34-year-old Rodrigo Alves, also known as the 'Human Ken Doll', has stayed relevant for longer than most one-hit-wonders. With his sculpted greasy glassed plastic chest and his white hair and smooth chin, the man is literally a doll pulled upward from the churned bio-vats of the Umbrella Corporation. He is 'the perfect man', if the perfect man is an androgynous sculpted blend between a Greek God and a children's doll. He is half Mattel and half boy Hermes. Why has he done this? Well, because it always felt right, I suppose. After attending six back-to-back Halloween parties in LA, this bourgeoisie boy needed some time off. Inordinately hungover and strung out on God knows what pills and potions, he's taken to a trip to India for a two week 'detox', or an excuse to spend a ton of money and relax after spending six Halloween parties spending money and relaxing. Life is just a big vacation in the big plastic bowl world! [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BbHu5khHgzJ/?hl=en]] He said his body nearly "gave in" after all the partying, which is probably likely. If all you do is party, spend money, get press and get plastic surgery, I guess your entire life is on the verge of a perpetual 'giving out'. And that's the funny thing - he's having ANOTHER surgery in the new year. So he's getting prepped for that. Why another surgery, you ask? Because all that cash won't spend itself. The Ken doll said he overdid it: "During Halloween I must have over done it. I attended 6 parties over the weekend in LA then I had to fly straight back to London. During the flight I had a fever and I felt very unwell the following day, so I had to call an ambulance to take me to the hospital." Sipping lean, popping percosets, drinking liquor? What was our plastic false idol up to? Perhaps none or all three? Alas, we won't know. But he had to go to the hospital for it, and now he's well enough to go to India. Like, how do you go to India to relax? Don't people go to India to see a new country, get exhausted walking all over? Isn't traveling pretty taxing and hard? Well, I suspect he will waste all the beauty of India at some stupid spa or resort, never actually seeing the country. Tourism at its finest. [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BbJpN26nwRy/?hl=en]] Moreover, apparently he's gotten the attention of some big-wigs in the Indian film industry. Rodrigo explains: "My first stop is New Delhi, then Agra to see the Taj Mahal, and then to Jaipur, where I will be filming a part in a Bollywood movie." Well, I suppose turning yourself into a polished shell of a man is one way to get cast in a film. But that's not the worst part. Not even close. Get ready for his next statement. I really was not ready for it, I'll admit. [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BbFnFzfH6OD/?hl=en]]

He's getting six ribs removed. Yes, six ribs. He is removing them just so his blazers can "fit me properly".

"I would like to achieve a classic figure while wearing my suits, and the only way to achieve that is to remove my ribs."

Well folks, there you have it. The life of the Human Ken Doll rolls on.

With more than 70 operations behind him now, fans of Rodrigo Alves thought he'd never stop getting surgery.

But it seems Mother Nature has thrown a spanner in the works, with the 35-year-old - otherwise known as 'Human Ken Doll' - reportedly fearful that his body can't handle any more.

In a new interview, the social media star opened up about getting a new implant fitted on his chin a few weeks ago. To his horror, he had woken up after the operation to find a permanent dent had appeared and has been forced to get corrective surgery to fix it.

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Caters]]

Speaking to the MailOnline, he admitted that he was struggling to eat and drink after catching the infection that deformed his chin and hoped that this was his last surgery.

"'I hope that this was my last surgery my body just can’t take it anymore," he said. "I just can’t help the fact that I had an infection which deformed my chin. Yesterday was my first day out and about after having the OP on Saturday. My face is very swollen still, I am struggling to eat and to drink. Liquid just goes everywhere."

Refusing to slow down though, Rodrigo showed off his now-remodelled "beautiful, perfect" chin at the Mercedes-Benz fashion show, where he posed for cameras in an attention-grabbing blue suit.

Talking further about his new look, he revealed: "I had a massive chin makeover with Dr Ali Mezdegi at Comfort Zone. My chin is absolutely perfect now it is small at a V-shape. The surgeon did a very fine and sophisticated job."

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Getty]]

This is not the first time Alves has claimed that he's "done" with plastic surgery, though. In February, he said he was finished with it "for the next few years" after undergoing his 11th nose job.

Appearing on British talk show This Morning, he said: "If I was a smoker or had an illness, it would be a risk or a danger. I'm done with plastic surgery for the next few years and if I need to have surgery I can, my entire body has been modified."

In the same interview, he told hosts, Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, that his nose job was an important one, because it had unblocked his nose and gave him back his sense of taste after four years of struggling.

"Now I can breathe, I had my nose done for the 11th time," he said. "It's been four years. I was living with my nose blocked. It's like having a constant cold, not being able to taste food or wine. My nose was a dead organ. I caught a bacterial infection. I had to wait all this time."

[[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BvOcw23lhG_/]]

Demonstrating he could now close his eyes, seven days after undergoing his fifth Canthopexy eye-lift surgery - which was intended to make him look like a "sexy cat" - he also explained he felt he wasn't getting "any younger".

"For the first two days I couldn't close my eyes properly," he said. "I'll close my eyes now. I'm tender everywhere. Yes, I've also put on some weight. I heal quickly. The procedure is not very popular. It's a type of eye-lift. I've had five eye-lifts. I'm 35 years old and I'm not getting any younger. Your eyes drop. Most people get this look adding eyeliner and mascara."

Despite all of the dangerous surgery he had undergone, Rodrigo insisted that he was "healthy" though, stating, "Plastic surgeons only perform on healthy people. I'm so healthy. I have lots of blood tests. I'm a very healthy person."

So, after all these recent complications, will we be seeing Human Ken Doll back in the operating room anytime soon? Let's hope not!