Millionaire tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson, 47, recently suffered a severe allergic reaction after injecting donor fat into his face as part of his ongoing quest to reverse aging. Johnson, who has been spending millions on anti-aging experiments under a project known as "Project Blueprint," shared disturbing images on Instagram, showing his swollen, balloon-like face.
"Immediately following the injections, my face began to blow up. And then it got worse, and worse, and worse until I couldn't even see. It was a severe allergic reaction," Johnson wrote in his Instagram caption. He described how the reaction escalated rapidly, leading to significant discomfort and temporary vision loss.
The mishap was reported on by People, NDTV, News18, and The Economic Times, among other outlets.
Thirty minutes after the treatment, Johnson was scheduled to meet with a Bloomberg reporter. He called ahead to warn, "Hey, so that you're not alarmed, you may not recognize me today. I think I'm ok. I hope I'm ok. If I'm not ok, are you by chance trained to perform any life-saving actions?" Despite the alarming situation, Johnson maintained his commitment to his anti-aging mission.
The incident was part of Johnson's "Project Baby Face," an experiment aimed at restoring lost volume in his face after significant weight loss due to a strict 1,950-calorie diet mandated by Project Blueprint. "As a result, I got really lean and lost a lot of fat—especially in my face. My biomarkers were improving, but I looked gaunt. People thought I was on the brink of death," he admitted.
"Facial fat, we discovered, is pretty important for how people perceive youth. It didn't matter how good my biomarkers were if I didn't have face fat," he noted. To address this, they selected a therapy involving injecting a fat-derived extracellular matrix to stimulate his body's natural fat growth.
"It's possible to use one's own body fat for this but the problem was I didn't have enough fat on my body to extract, so I used a donor," he explained. Unfortunately, this led to the severe allergic reaction that caused his face to swell severely.
Describing the experience, Johnson revealed that the swelling worsened rapidly, leading to significant discomfort. "It got worse, and worse, and worse until I couldn't even see. It was a severe allergic reaction," he said, which led to other problems in his body.
Johnson remains undeterred in his quest to reverse aging. "Seven days later, my face returned to normal. We were back in the trenches reformulating plans for our next attempt," he stated. He emphasized that the experience wouldn't stop him from seeking other ways to restore lost volume in his face.
Johnson's anti-aging pursuits began in 2020 when his health was very poor. He has since enlisted a team of 30 specialist doctors and is spending $2 million this year on cutting-edge science and advanced medical technology to reverse his biological age to that of an 18-year-old. His efforts include strict diets, stress management, regular exercise, and unconventional methods such as regular gene therapy injections and the use of Blueprint-branded supplements.
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"In starting Project Blueprint, I had one question: are we the first generation who won't die?" Johnson wrote, reflecting on his ambitions. He aims to have the brain, heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, tendons, teeth, skin, hair, bladder, penis, and rectum of an 18-year-old, and claims that his overall pace of aging has slowed by 24 percent.
Johnson's journey has attracted both attention and criticism. Social media users reacted to his post about the allergic reaction with mixed views. One user commented, "Sometimes I wonder, why go against nature's course?" Another joked, "Handsome Squidward allergic reaction vibes." A comment read, "On this quest for biohacking, longevity and slowing down signs of aging/looking young are two totally different things. One is health-related the other more superficial."
"Building a product is one thing; being the product is a whole different thing," Johnson acknowledged. Despite occasional setbacks, he remains steadfast in his mission to defy aging and continues to explore new therapies and approaches to restore youthfulness.
Johnson's dedication to Project Blueprint involves evaluating scientific literature on longevity and aging, stack-ranking the best-performing health therapies with the most compelling evidence. "We were back in the trenches reformulating plans for our next attempt," he affirmed after recovering from the allergic reaction.
Johnson aims to reverse his biological age and make death an option, claiming to have the lung capacity and heart of an 18-year-old.
This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq