Kelin

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Dermatology

Arnold Klein

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, UCLA Center for Health Sciences, UCLA-Harbor General Hospital

It’s not often that a single patient makes his doctor one of the world’s most famous people in his specialty. But when that patient is pop star Michael Jackson whose skin has been the subject of intense worldwide media coverage a little pigmentation treatment can go a long way.

Dr. Arnold Klein is also known to many as the former employer of Debbie Rowe, now Mrs. Michael Jackson. Others know him as a leading expert in collagen and botox treatments, used for erasing wrinkles. And some know him as founding director of the American Medical Foundation for AIDS Research, which he started with music mogul David Geffen.

What most do not know is why he became a dermatologist. While a junior at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, Klein studied psychiatry and was fascinated with drug addiction. He switched to dermatology after witnessing a dermatologist diagnose a barbiturate overdose by identifying tiny blisters on a patient’s skin.

Klein says there was another motivating factor for becoming a dermatologist. When he was 2 years old, his brother spilled hot water on his arms. For years, he wore long sleeves to mask the burn scars.

“Narcissism affects people internally and externally,” Klein said. “The skin really is a picture of what’s happening inside the body.”

An avid scholar, author, professor and philanthropist, Klein developed the serial puncture technique using collagen to treat wrinkles. He also pioneered the usage of collagen for lip enhancements, wrinkle removal and other “soft-tissue augmentation.”

“He was one of my best students and I truly think he deserves the fame,” said Dr. Albert Kligman, who discovered the acne-treating substance Retin-A and was one of Klein’s medical school professors. “He’s very good with his hands and head. Dr. Klein is an intellectual and not just a technician, even though he chose to go out to California, the home of all the fruits and nuts in the world.”

Though Klein is the first to admit that he enjoys his lifestyle, status and celebrity “It gives me great table reservations,” he says he is truly happiest when working. “I still want to be educated in other fields of medicine. Here I am, 54 years old, and I feel like a kid because I am still so interested in what I do.”

Lisa Boren

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