The Needle and the Damage Done

The Needle and the Damage Done is the story of a boy from a small Irish village who became an adventurer, multi-award-winning doctor and physician to the stars. Part travelogue, part thriller, part celebrity tell-all, the memoir is a whirlwind of adventure and a fascinating insight into the colourful life of Dr Patrick Treacy.

Cosmetic doctor Patrick Treacy grew up in rural Northern Ireland during The Troubles. Determined to become a doctor, he raised money for medical school in Dublin by smuggling cars from Germany to Turkey. He studied biochemistry at Queens University Belfast and medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons. While working in a Dublin hospital, he was accidentally jabbed with a needle from an HIV patient. He took blood test after blood test for many years until he was confirmed negative. Initially overwhelmed by the experience, he moved to New Zealand, away from everyone who knew what he was going through: his girlfriend and his colleagues. Thus, he began a peripatetic existence, working as a doctor around the world. In Saddam Hussein’s Baghdad, Treacy was arrested and imprisoned, spending days wondering whether he was going to be hanged as a spy. He worked as a ship’s surgeon in California and with the Royal Flying Doctor Service in Australia. On returning to Dublin, Treacy set up the Ailesbury Clinic where he pioneered the emergent field of cosmetic dermatology, championing treatments regarding the use of botulinum toxin and dermal fillers. His award-winning research brought him numerous international accolades and many celebrity patients, including the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson, who came flocking to his door.

Central to this memoir is Treacy’s personal journey: his efforts to escape the conflict of The Troubles, coping with the fear that he may have contracted HIV, getting over his lost love and surviving the crippling Irish recession. Most of all, it gives us a fascinating insight into his award-winning research on the influence of Botox ® on the brain and how he developed protocols to reverse the damage being done to patient’s faces as a result of the complications of dermal fillers.