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Donald Trump Uses Propecia, And Other Tales From His Doctor
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Feb 2, 2017
Modified Apr 2, 2018
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By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Feb 2, 2017
Modified Apr 2, 2018
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One of the true stars to emerge from the 2016 election was Dr. Harold Bornstein, Donald Trump's personal physician who penned a beautiful letter proclaiming Trump to be in "astonishingly excellent" health, and in fact, "the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency." That pinnacle of medical professionalism was followed up this week by a report in the Times revealing some of Trump's innermost health-related secrets. For instance, that hair? It's real, all thanks to Propecia!
The Times conducted four interviews with Bornstein, who has a practice on the Upper East Side, over the past month. Though initially the 69-year-old doctor was reluctant to discuss the President's health with reporters, it appears he got over his shyness and started revealing some delicious nuggets. Most importantly, that mop on top of Trump's head is indeed real—Bornstein says Trump has been taking the prostate drug finasteride, known as Propecia, to keep from balding. (A fun side effect of Propecia is impotence, but Bornstein didn't touch on that). Bornstein noted that he, too, takes Propecia, which explains his luscious locks. "He has all his hair,” he said. “I have all my hair.”
Other fun medical facts: Trump has rosacea, which might explain why he dyes his face orange; he's up-to-date on his HIV tests; and Bornstein is not concerned about Trump potentially suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, even though his father was diagnosed with it in his eighties and Trump can't seem to recognize Rudy Giuliani anymore. Also, Trump changes the paper on the examining table himself, which makes sense considering his alleged crippling fear of germs (and stairs!)
Bornstein himself has suffered tremendously since his letter was released, and perhaps even more so since NBC News ran a profile on him over the summer. That profile revealed that Bornstein took this election as seriously as the voters did, dashing off that four-paragraph letter in just 5 minutes while a limo Trump sent for him languished outside his office.
When asked how Bornstein could assert, "If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency," as he did in the letter, Bornstein replied, "I like that sentence to be quite honest with you and all the rest of them are either sick or dead." Indeed, Trump's predecessor is so sick he doesn't even care if the world sees him wearing a backwards baseball cap.
Since becoming famous during the campaign, Bornstein says the media's made fun of him, and strangers have thrown things at his office window and yelled at him on Park Avenue. He was also not invited to be Trump's physician at the White House, but he did get to go to the inauguration. There, he stood in the cold, suffered back pain, and was "absolutely miserable" the whole time. You and me both, Harold.
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donald trump
election 2016
harold bornstein
Rebecca Fishbein
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