How Plastic Surgery Damaged Joan Van Ark's Career

Plastic surgery seems to be irresistible, especially in the era of Photoshop and Facetune, as audiences realize how easy it is to look like a Kardashian. And it's understandable because, thanks to plastic surgery, there have been some incredible transformations over the years — and some stars have transformed with just one small change.

Despite its growing popularity, however, there's a whole host of people, celebrities included, who flat-out refuse to partake in any kind of plastic surgery. Lucy Liu has expressed her skepticism about such procedures, and Kate Winslet explained that plastic surgery goes against her morals. Other stars, including actress Julia Roberts and model Heidi Klum, have also chosen to age naturally.

Of course, many stars are wary of such cosmetic procedures because so many plastic surgeries have been known to go wrong and countless stars' careers have be ruined by their unfortunate time under the knife. Some celebs went into hiding after these surgeries went wrong. Others rallied but their careers were never the same. Meg Ryan suffered from a bad experience, as did Lil Kim, and unfortunately, Joan Van Ark is another star who likely regrets her negative experience under the knife. Here's the story.

Joan Van Ark became famous for her roles on the nighttime soap operas Dallas and Knots Landing between the late 1970s to the early 1990s. From 2004 to 2005, she also joined The Young and the Restless, according to her IMDb credits, expanding her soap legacy to include the daytime portion of the genre. While she was a total stunner at the peak of her acting career, Van Ark has changed dramatically thanks to plastic surgery. One source who saw Van Ark in January 2020 told The Globe that it looked like her face was melting (via Press Reader). "It's just sad to see Joan now," the insider added. "She should have left well enough alone."

Plastic surgeon Dr. Anthony Youn, who has not worked on Van Ark, told the National Enquirer that Van Ark's drastically changed appearance might, in fact, "be due 
to quite a bit of plastic surgery," he said. "I suspect she's had at least one facelift, if not two, causing her neckline and jawline to look tight," Dr. Youn added. "Her forehead is smooth and wrinkle-free, a possible consequence of a brow lift and Botox." Dr. Youn suggested she stop all invasive treatments except a little Botox here and there.

Of course, as the insider noted, Van Ark's long-term insecurities likely compelled her to embrace plastic surgery "before she'd go on camera" again. "She never truly liked the way she looked ... and once she had money to burn she tried to make herself pretty with plastic surgery. Unfortunately, it does not seem to have worked to Van Ark's benefit.