London, July 24 : Late Michael Jackson turned to surgery after neighbourhood kids poked fun and branded him `big nose', says a medic.

Nose job expert Steven Hoefflin insists that the Thriller hitmaker was in his late teens when he sought a nose job.

Hoefflin told how he drew the line at remodelling Jackson's nose after two ops.

"The best he ever looked was in his Thriller days after the procedures I had given him. If only he''d stopped there," the Sun quoted him as saying.

He also lashed out at other plastic surgeons for later going too far.

"Michael Jackson was a very cute kid, who unfortunately grew into a very unattractive adolescent and ugly man," he said.

"The ''Big Nose'' taunts had a terrible bearing on his self-esteem," he added.

The medic said also denied claims by one surgeon, Dr Wallace Goodstein, who said that the 50-year-old singer had around 50 cosmetic procedures in the years Hoefflin treated him.

"This is false. Dr Goodstein has been disciplined by the California Medical Board for making these comments," he said.

"He rented space in my office but never worked side by side with me. He was never my partner and, as far as I and Michael were aware, never met Michael.

"Dr Goodstein first made these claims in the 1990s. I sued him, won, received an apology and a large settlement," he added. (ANI)