Cracko Jacko, or how years of surgery disintegrated star's nose

MICHAEL JACKSON sparked speculation about the state of his nose yesterday after a rare close-up shot of his face was circulated around the globe.

Pictures of Jackson without his mask during a breach of contract trial in Santa Barbara starkly revealed the result of 20 years of plastic surgery.

The bridge of his nose was covered with a sticking plaster and the tip appeared to be scarred, bruised and flaking.

One cosmetic surgeon said it looked as if his nose had disintegrated.

"You have to put in a support structure, like a tent pole," Santa Monica surgeon Dr Harvey Zarem said.

"This could have been a restoration of the tip using cartilage, bone or plastic."

Cosmetic surgeon Dr Gerald Imber said: "Clearly, he had some sort of nasal-tip disaster." The tissue probably broke down after the singer had a support put in, he explained. "Now, it looks like he has skin grafts of something to close it up." He said a collapsed nose was very rare, and he had not seen one in 15,000 operations.

One surgeon even put out a statement denying any responsibility for the state of the star's face.

"Dr Steven Hoefflin has not done any of Michael Jackson's nasal surgery since 1998, and had advised him against any further surgery," said a lawyer for the Santa Monica doctor.

The reclusive pop star is being sued for 22 million by his long-time promoter, Marcel Avram, for allegedly backing out of two Millennium concerts scheduled for New Year's Eve 1999.

Jackson maintains that it was Mr Avram, not himself, who cancelled the shows over concerns they would not be profitable. Jackson told the court he could shed little light on matters like contracts and finances because he was busy being "a visionary". He said he left most business to others so that he could concentrate on music.

"There's an overview (that I get) of what's going on financially, but I'm in the creative department", he said.