SHORT-TERM BORROWINGS AND LONG-TERM DEBT (Details 2)	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended			3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended			9 Months Ended		9 Months Ended		0 Months Ended	9 Months Ended										0 Months Ended				9 Months Ended			0 Months Ended	9 Months Ended		9 Months Ended	1 Months Ended		3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended		1 Months Ended		0 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2011 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2011 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 5.375% Convertible Notes due in August, 2014 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 5.375% Convertible Notes due in August, 2014	Jun. 29, 2012 5.375% Convertible Notes due in August, 2014 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2011 5.375% Convertible Notes due in August, 2014	Sep. 30, 2012 Senior Secured Credit Facilities	Feb. 13, 2012 Senior Secured Credit Facilities USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 New Revolving Credit Facility and Term Loan A Facility Base rate	Sep. 30, 2012 New Revolving Credit Facility and Term Loan A Facility LIBO	Sep. 11, 2012 New Revolving Credit Facility USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 New Revolving Credit Facility USD ($)	Feb. 13, 2012 New Revolving Credit Facility USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 Senior Secured Term Loan A Facility USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2012 Senior Secured Term Loan A Facility	Feb. 13, 2012 Senior Secured Term Loan A Facility USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 Senior Secured Term Loan B Facility USD ($)	Jul. 09, 2012 Senior Secured Term Loan B Facility USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2012 Senior Secured Term Loan B Facility	Jun. 14, 2012 Senior Secured Term Loan B Facility USD ($)	Feb. 13, 2012 Senior Secured Term Loan B Facility USD ($)	Jul. 09, 2012 Senior Secured Term Loan B Facility Minimum USD ($)	Jun. 14, 2012 Senior Secured Term Loan B Facility Minimum USD ($)	Jul. 09, 2012 Senior Secured Term Loan B Facility Maximum USD ($)	Jun. 14, 2012 Senior Secured Term Loan B Facility Maximum USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 Senior Secured Term Loan B Facility Base rate	Sep. 30, 2012 Senior Secured Term Loan B Facility LIBO	Sep. 30, 2012 Incremental Term Loan B	Sep. 02, 2012 Incremental Term Loan B Subsequent event Medicis USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 Brazil Uncommitted Line of Credit USD ($)	Sep. 25, 2012 Brazil Uncommitted Line of Credit BRL	Sep. 30, 2012 Brazil Uncommitted Line of Credit Interbank Deposit Certificate Rate	Jun. 30, 2011 4.00% Convertible Notes due in November, 2013	Apr. 30, 2011 4.00% Convertible Notes due in November, 2013	Sep. 30, 2011 4.00% Convertible Notes due in November, 2013 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2011 4.00% Convertible Notes due in November, 2013 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 4.00% Convertible Notes due in November, 2013 USD ($)	Apr. 20, 2011 4.00% Convertible Notes due in November, 2013 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 Bridge loan facility Medicis USD ($)	Sep. 02, 2012 Bridge loan facility Medicis USD ($)	Oct. 04, 2012 6.375% Senior Notes due in October 2020 Subsequent event USD ($)	Oct. 04, 2012 6.375% Senior Notes due in October 2020 VPI Escrow Corp. Subsequent event Medicis USD ($)
Long-term debt, net of unamortized debt discount
Maximum borrowing capacity increase														$ 175,000,000
Maximum borrowing capacity											3,100,000,000			450,000,000		275,000,000			2,225,000,000		1,300,000,000		1,200,000,000	600,000,000									10,800,000	21,900,000
Total fair value of long-term debt	8,100,000,000		8,100,000,000		6,700,000,000
Borrowings under line of credit																									100,000,000	600,000,000	1,300,000,000	1,200,000,000					9,600,000
Remaining availability under credit agreement																																	1,200,000
Quarterly amortization of credit facilities, initial rate (as a percent)																		5.00%				1.00%									1.00%
Annual amortization of credit facilities commencing March 31, 2013 (as a percent)																	10.00%
Annual amortization of credit facilities commencing March 31, 2014 (as a percent)																	20.00%
Aggregate principal amount outstanding															25,000,000		2,109,000,000			1,265,900,000
Amount borrowed																																1,000,000,000								200,000,000		2,750,000,000		500,000,000	1,750,000,000
Nation's thirty largest banks, minimum percentage												75.00%
Spread over federal funds effective rate (as a percent)												0.50%
Interest rate margin (as a percent)												1.75%	2.75%																2.75%	3.75%					0.23%
Effective rate (as a percent)															3.45%		3.37%			4.42%													0.90%
Commitment fee, unutilized commitments, percentage															0.50%
Percentage of cash proceeds from asset sales outside the ordinary course of business payable as mandatory prepayments										100.00%
Percentage of net cash proceeds of insurance and condemnation proceeds for property or asset losses										100.00%
Percentage of cash proceeds from issuance of equity securities payable as mandatory prepayments										50.00%
Percentage of cash proceeds from incurrence of debt										100.00%
Percentage of annual excess cash flow										50.00%
Prepayment premium rate (as a percent)																																1.00%
Percentage of capital stock of the entity and domestic subsidiaries pledged as collateral for borrowings										100.00%
Percentage of capital stock of foreign subsidiaries pledged as collateral for borrowings										65.00%
Percentage of capital stock of the entity and each other subsidiary of the company (other than Valeant's subsidiaries) that is owned by a guarantor										100.00%
Secured leverage ratio for last day of each quarter including the fiscal quarter ending March 31, 2012, maximum										2.50
Interest coverage ratio, maximum										3.00
Stated interest rate (as a percent)						5.375%	5.375%		5.375%																															4.00%				6.375%	6.375%
Redemption price as a percentage of principal amount as per the merger agreement							100.00%																																	100.00%					100.00%
Settlement of Convertible Notes (in shares)																																					17,782,764
Conversion rate, number of common shares per $1,000 of principal amount of notes																																								79.0667
Principal amount of notes used for conversion rate																																								1,000
Conversion price of convertible notes (in dollars per share)																																								$ 12.65
Aggregate redemption amount of notes	31,063,000	11,088,000	461,056,000	986,088,000		62,100,000
Carrying amount of notes prior to conversion								16,000,000																																	221,300,000
Fair value of notes prior to conversion								18,300,000																																	226,000,000
Loss on extinguishment of debt	2,322,000	10,315,000	2,455,000	33,325,000																																			4,700,000
Difference between the estimated fair value and the repurchase price of securities						43,800,000
Difference between the estimated fair value and the purchase price of securities charged to additional paid-in capital						200,000
Difference between the estimated fair value and the purchase price of securities charged to accumulated deficit						43,600,000
Difference between estimated fair value of notes and fair value of common shares issued upon settlement																																								666,000,000
Charges to additional paid-in capital for difference between estimated fair value of notes and fair value of common shares issued upon settlement																																								226,000,000
Fair value of common shares issued for conversion				(892,000,000)																																				892,000,000
Charges to accumulated deficit for difference between estimated fair value of notes and fair value of common shares issued upon settlement																																								440,000,000
Convertible notes, number of shares convertible into equity consisting of purchased call options																																								15,813,338
Convertible notes, number of shares convertible into equity consisting of written call options																																				11,479,365
Shares issued for settlement of call options																																						7,518,595
Cash paid for settlement of written call options		66,864,000		66,864,000																																		66,900,000
Variable rate basis												Federal funds effective rate	LIBO																Base rate	LIBO					Interbank Deposit Certificate Rate
Minimum effective rate (as a percent)																														1.00%
Lenders' commitment																																											$ 2,750,000,000