John Holzer

John Holzer was educated at MIT and the University of Chicago. He lived in Rio de Janeiro and has a forty-year association with Brazil and the Pitanguy family.

To unearth the story of plastic surgery's incredible rise and Ivo Pitanguy's central role in it, the author interviewed an eclectic collection of 100 surgeons, socialites, scholars, journalists, and taxi drivers on 4 continents; plowed through 10,000 articles, medical textbooks, scientific journals, history books & memoirs; and, at Pitanguy's private and charity hospitals, observed massive facial reconstructions, complex burn surgeries, and extensive breast reductions besides face-lifts, brow-lifts, tummy tucks, and nasal remodelings.

Holzer had unprecedented access to Pitanguy and his Rio estate, fabled tropical island, and medical, literary, and social universes.