Doctors say time-lapse of Joe Biden over the years shows his ‘alarming decline’
Voters have been concerned about Joe Biden’s age since he ran for president in 2019 at age 77.
But doctors tell DailyMail.com that an alarming deterioration began in 2021.
After his disastrous performance during last week’s debate, many are wondering how long the now 81-year-old’s faculties have been declining, and how long his team has known about it.
We asked a number of doctors to watch a time-lapse of the Mail’s coverage of the ailing president through the decades, as well as to consider his public appearances.
Experts agreed that his appearance and cognitive abilities deteriorated sharply from 2021 onwards. They spoke both openly and off the record, fearing that their comments could damage his reputation.
They told this website that the photos showed a “glassy,” distant look in Biden’s eyes, as well as a “blank” facial expression and paler skin, starting about three years ago.
Biden looking sharp (left) during a debate for the Democratic nomination in 2019 and the ailing president in 2024
Dr. Stuart Fischer, an emergency physician in New York City, said, “If you look at all these pictures of Joe Biden, the one unqualified success he’s had is his hair transplant — it still looks great!
‘But from 2021 onwards, the expression in his eyes changes: he starts to look a bit like a zombie, with an empty stare.
“That was especially evident in June 2023 with Vice President Harris, who looked vacant and unmoving, which alarmed people.”
He added: ‘People normally decline at different rates, but by the age of 80 you would expect there to be some degree of decline.
“But at 81, he’s still too young to have such serious problems. If you think about Mick Jagger at 80, he’s still performing on stage with ease.”
According to experts, President Biden showed classic signs of aging in the late 2000s and early 2010s, when he was Barack Obama’s vice president.
He had bags and lines under his eyes, a receding hairline and sagging skin, to name a few features.
But doctors DailyMail.com spoke to said that around 2019, as Biden prepared for his successful presidential campaign, his face transformed.
The doctors DailyMail.com spoke to said Biden was aging normally until 2021/2022, when the decline became more pronounced.
His skin appeared much firmer, which they said was likely due to plastic surgery, including a facelift and filler treatments.
Dr. Smita Ramanadham, a plastic surgeon in New Jersey, said: “There seems to be a battle going on with Biden, where he is getting older and his team is trying to combat that (the rapid aging and frailty) with different treatments.
‘Because of all the treatments he has had, he no longer really shows his emotions in front of his eyes. This can make it difficult to determine what is going on inside, because his emotions are not clearly visible on his face.’
Dr. Ramanadham said she too noticed a change in 2021: this time the president appeared much older and weaker.
She said: ‘If you look at the eyes and the expression around them, in later images they seem to have a glassy, misty look to them. They also have this wide-openness.
‘On his skin it also appears to lose color over time, which is a sign of (advanced) aging.’
She added that it was also important to look at his movements and facial expressions.
Dr. Ramanadham said, “If you just look at him, he moves a little slower and reacts a little slower. You can see that he’s almost processing the information and sometimes he has that glassy, blank look.
Biden looking slick in 1991 compared to last week’s debate against Donald Trump, which could spell the end of his presidency
“I think that’s why there are so many questions about his candidacy.”
Many doctors have privately told DailyMail.com that he is likely suffering from some kind of condition, and not just old age.
The White House has downplayed suggestions that Biden has neurological problems, saying the president simply had a “bad night” and was “combating a cold.”
However, the White House has indicated that Biden functions fine between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. but is prone to gaffes later in the evening.
Seven in ten voters believe Biden is mentally unfit to serve as president. About half feel the same way about Trump.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Chief Medical Correspondent at CNNtoday called for a cognitive test for Biden, indicating that even parts of the media normally sympathetic to the president are turning to him.
He wrote: “As a brain specialist, I found it disturbing to see President Joe Biden, and it quickly became clear that I was not having the right response.
“We often hear that observing a candidate during their campaign is the best way to assess that person’s physical and cognitive health.
“The country is now watching and that assessment gives rise to concern – and to the need for transparent testing.”
Biden in his heyday (left) and a video of the president looking blank on the White House lawn last month, which sparked concern
Many doctors are advocating that Biden undergo the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), a screening test used to detect cognitive decline.
It’s the test Trump has taken twice and says he passed both times, scoring 30 out of 30.
The test’s creator, Dr. Ziad Nasreddine of Canada, has also urged Biden to take the test, telling DailyMail.com he couldn’t keep quiet after seeing it in the debate last month.
It comes as the ailing president goes through a campaign weekend in which his presidential bid teeters on the brink.
According to anonymous sources, Biden is aware that if he messes up events, he will reconsider his decision to enter the race.