Beverly Hills Plastic Surgeon Gets Facelift to Avoid Looking Like William Shatner

For 35 years, Dr. Richard Ellenbogen has been a cutting-edge cosmetic surgeon. Now, he'll finally see what it's like to actually go under the knife.

On Wednesday, the Beverly Hills doctor is getting his first facelift.

"Going under the knife is such a crude way to put it," the Beverly Hills-based doctor bemusedly told AOL News. "I prefer surgical beautification."

Ellenbogen is known as the field as "The Father of Fat Grafting" because he pioneered many of the techniques used by plastic surgeons all over the world. He specializes in repairing bad plastic surgery and facelifts, but says good genes are what kept him from slicing and dicing his own mug until the ripe old age of 66.

After realizing he started to look too much like William Shatner, plastic surgeon Dr. Richard Ellenbogen, 66, has decided to get his first face lift. (Courtesy Dr. Richard Ellenbogen)

Courtesy Dr. Richard Ellenbogen

After realizing he started to look too much like William Shatner, plastic surgeon Dr. Richard Ellenbogen, 66, is getting his first facelift.

"But I recently appeared on TV and after watching the segment, I realized I was starting to look like William Shatner and decided, 'My time has come,'" he said.

"If you work in the candy store, sometimes you owe yourself a piece of candy."

Representatives for Shatner told AOL News that he was unavailable for comment.

Ellenbogen is having a face lift, a neck lift and some work on the lower eyes. Deciding who should do the surgery was of the utmost importance to the good doctor -- especially because his doppelganger, Shatner, doesn't offer facelift deals on Priceline.

Ultimately, Ellenbogen handed the scalpel to Dr. Malcolm Paul, whose practice is in the upscale Newport Beach area of Orange County.

In its own way, plastic surgery is an art, and Ellenbogen says that the fact that he picked Paul is "a feather in [Paul's] cap."

"Very few plastic surgeons go through plastic surgery," said Ellenbogen, who is considered a pioneer in the neck lift. "It's like Manolo Blahnik going somewhere else to buy his wife's shoes."

Paul agrees.

"It is the ultimate compliment," Paul said.

That doesn't mean the doctors -- who are good friends -- don't have their differences.

"I do more fat grafting than he does, and I use more stem cells, but his work is as good as mine," Ellenbogen said.

According to Paul, the request was a simple one.

"He said, 'I like how you do necks. I want you to do mine,'" Paul remembered. "I was flattered and proud."

Paul and Ellenbogen agree that the key to plastic surgery on a guy is not stretching things too thin -- literally.

"Men still like a fullness in the face," Ellenbogen said.

Paul added: "Men don't want to look pulled. No one wants to look like they're suspended from the ceiling either."