'Baron of Botox' experimented on himself

Dr Fredric Brandt, 65, the "Baron of Botox" was discovered at his Miami home by his housekeeper on Sunday. Photo / Getty

Dr Fredric Brandt, who has died aged 65, was an American dermatologist known as "the Baron of Botox" who owed his exhaustive knowledge of fillers to repeated experiments on himself.

Working out of clinics in Manhattan and Miami, Brandt pioneered a look that has been dubbed the "New New Face", attributed to the likes of Madonna and Demi Moore. A carefully calibrated regime of Botox, collagen and Restylane injections created a plump, youthful appearance that disparaging beauty critics likened to a baby's. Brandt specialised in a procedure called the "Y-lift", which involved the injection of filler into the area just below the cheekbones.

Madonna had her face worked on by the Baron of Botox. Photo / AP

Though the non-surgical approach had been practised by physicians in Europe and Australia from the early Eighties, it took Brandt's combination of canny marketing and close involvement with the research work of the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) to launch the New New Face on the world of American celebrity. When, in 2002, the FDA declared Botox safe to use for cosmetic procedures, Brandt was already poised at the forefront of the new beauty revolution. Before long his clinics were using up to 5,000 vials of Botox - or "Bo", as Brandt nicknamed it - in a typical year. He had his own radio show, an eponymous anti-ageing skincare range and devotees from as far afield as Russia and the Middle East. Booking an appointment with him became, as one customer put it, "like needing to know the biggest maitre d' in town to get into a hot restaurant."

Powering this empire was a ruthless work ethic and a strict adherence to Brandt's own beauty principles. He was up at six-thirty every morning for an hour and a half of yoga, followed by ten hours in the clinic. In between he found time to write two books on beauty: Age-less: The Definitive Guide to Botox, Collagen, Lasers, Peels, and Other Solutions for Flawless Skin (2002) and 10 Minutes/10 Years: Your Definitive Guide to a Beautiful and Youthful Appearance (2007).

Then there were the self-administered injections. Brandt used Botox twice a year and injected fillers into his cheeks and jawline - invariably without anaesthetic. Towards the end of his life the result drew unkind comparisons with a character from Tina Fey's online comedy The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, in which the long-haired "Dr Grant" can be seen slurring his words and reinflating his own face.

Yet despite his uncannily enhanced looks, Brandt insisted that he never injected clients purely on their say-so. "My motto is, 'You want to be the best you can be for yourself'," he explained. "I tell people, 'This is not a matter of need. This is about choice'."

The younger of two brothers, Fredric Sheldon Brandt was born on June 26, 1949 and grew up in Newark, New Jersey, where his parents owned a sweet shop. It was not as idyllic a scenario as a young boy might expect, however; both parents denied him sweets and spent long hours behind the till. His father died of juvenile diabetes when Fredric was just 15 and his mother followed seven years later. The enduring legacy from his childhood was a terrible sweet tooth, which he eventually conquered through a strict sugar- and gluten-free diet.

After graduating from Rutgers University in New Brunswick in 1971, Brandt went on to Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia, where he toyed with various specialities before settling on dermatology. He completed his residency at the University of Miami in 1981 and set up his private practice there, branching out to a New York office in 1998. Eight years later he expanded the Florida clinic to include the Dermatology Research Institute, which currently has more than 200 patients involved in clinical studies of muscle relaxants and dermal fillers.

For the rest of his practising career Brandt divided his time equally between the two clinics. While his Florida residence housed adopted stray dogs (cared for by a sitter during his weeks away), the New York apartment became the repository for his modern art collection. The curtains were kept drawn to protect works by Richard Prince and Damien Hirst.

An engaging and enthusiastic talker, Brandt admitted to an obsession with mortality that dated back to early childhood - though he stressed that the prospect did not frighten him. "We're all going to die. I just wouldn't want to be in a nursing home," he said. "It would be terrible not to be able to do what you like to do. It's just not living."

Dr Brandt, who never married, was found dead at his home in Miami on Sunday night.