Why biohacker Bryan Johnson, star of Netflix documentary, Botoxed his manhood

Penis Botox among self-experiments biohacker shares on social media to show scientists, medics, followers how biological clock can be slowed

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Bryan Johnson, 46, has tried a number of self-experiments, and followed strict dietary, exercise and sleep regimens, to slow his biological ageing – and there is never a “cheat day”. Photo: Magdalena Wosinska

Published: 6:15pm, 13 Jul 2024Updated: 12:58pm, 3 Jan 2025

As children, we usually look forward to birthdays with glee. As we age, they are more often met with a sense of mildly increasing dread, serving as an annual reminder of our mortality.

For Los Angeles, California-based serial entrepreneur turned biohacker Bryan Johnson, the subject of Netflix documentary Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever, birthdays are now celebrated less frequently.

Johnson announced in June 2024 to his 808,000 followers on Instagram that he has succeeded in slowing his biological ageing – essentially how old the cells in his body are – to 0.64.

This means Johnson ages biologically less than two-thirds of a year for every chronological year, so, he quips: “I now celebrate my birthday every 19 months.”

A tech mogul who sold payment processor Braintree to eBay for US$800 million (HK$6.25 billion) in 2013 and then went on to found Kernel, a company that produces helmets that monitor and record brain activity, Johnson has become known for his mission to prove that death does not have to be an inevitability.

For months, he has been documenting and sharing on social media and beyond a series of data-driven experiments he has had performed on himself, some successful, some less so, that he calls Project Blueprint.

Johnson with his son Talmage with whom he swapped blood as part of his experiment in reversing his own ageing process. The transfusions ended when they were found to have no benefit. Photo: Bryan Johnson