The software entrepreneur who spent millions to biohack his body and reverse his aging has run into an ugly problem.
Bryan Johnson, 47, said an attempt to inject fat into his cheeks – in the hope it would give him a more youthful appearance – caused an allergic reaction that left his face significantly swollen and red.
The injection – nicknamed ‘project baby face’ by Johnson – was a failure.
“Immediately after the injections my face started to puff up,” Johnson said. “And then it got worse, and worse, and worse until I couldn’t even see anymore.”
Johnson said the allergic reaction started within 30 minutes of his procedure. He said he would be interviewed by a Bloomberg reporter immediately after receiving the shots, so he called the journalist to ask if they were “trained to perform life-saving actions.”
Life-saving measures, or anything even close to them, were ultimately not necessary. Johnson said his severely swollen face – which made him almost unrecognizable – lasted for about a week before it disappeared and his jawline returned.
Johnson hinted that he might try another procedure to change the appearance of his face, which he himself admitted looks “skinny.”
“People thought I was on the brink of death,” Johnson said of his face.
Johnson regularly mentions junk food companies and unhealthy practices, and has taken extreme measures to try to turn back the clock, such as removing all plasma from his body last month and replacing it with albumin.
The Utah native who Fortune reports estimated it was worth $400 million last year, with his most recent scary incident attributed to the cost of challenging Father Time.
“Seven days later my face was back to normal and we were back in the trenches, reformulating plans for our next attempt,” he said. “Building a product is one thing; Being the product is something completely different.”
