SHORT-TERM BORROWINGS AND LONG-TERM DEBT (Details 3)	12 Months Ended	0 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended				0 Months Ended	12 Months Ended					0 Months Ended					12 Months Ended				0 Months Ended		12 Months Ended		0 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012	Jun. 10, 2009 5.375% Convertible Notes due in August, 2014 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Brazil Uncommitted Line of Credit USD ($)	Sep. 25, 2012 Brazil Uncommitted Line of Credit BRL	Dec. 31, 2012 Brazil Uncommitted Line of Credit Interbank Deposit Certificate Rate	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior Secured Credit Facilities	Dec. 31, 2012 New Revolving Credit Facility and Term Loan A Facility Base rate	Dec. 31, 2012 New Revolving Credit Facility and Term Loan A Facility LIBO	Sep. 11, 2012 New Revolving Credit Facility USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 New Revolving Credit Facility	Feb. 13, 2012 New Revolving Credit Facility USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior Secured Term Loan A Facility USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2012 Senior Secured Term Loan A Facility	Feb. 13, 2012 Senior Secured Term Loan A Facility USD ($)	Jul. 09, 2012 Senior Secured Term Loan B Facility USD ($)	Jun. 14, 2012 Senior Secured Term Loan B Facility USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior Secured Term Loan B Facility USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2012 Senior Secured Term Loan B Facility	Feb. 13, 2012 Senior Secured Term Loan B Facility USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior Secured Term Loan B Facility Base rate	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior Secured Term Loan B Facility LIBO	Dec. 31, 2012 Incremental Term Loan B USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 Incremental Term Loan B	Dec. 11, 2012 Incremental Term Loan B Medicis USD ($)	Oct. 02, 2012 Term Loan B Facility USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 4.00% Convertible Notes due in November, 2013 USD ($)	Sep. 02, 2012 Bridge loan facility Medicis USD ($)	Oct. 04, 2012 6.375% Senior Notes due in October 2020 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2011 6.50% Senior Notes due in July 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 6.75% Senior Notes due in October 2017 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2011 7.25% Senior Notes due in July 2022 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 7.25% Senior Notes due in July 2022
Long-term debt, net of unamortized debt discount
Maximum borrowing capacity increase									$ 175,000,000
Maximum borrowing capacity			10,700,000	21,900,000					450,000,000		275,000,000			2,225,000,000	1,300,000,000	1,200,000,000			600,000,000								2,750,000,000
Borrowings under line of credit			10,548,000												100,000,000	600,000,000
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												2,083,500,000					1,275,200,000					974,000,000
Amount borrowed		350,000,000																						1,000,000,000	1,300,000,000	200,000,000		1,750,000,000	950,000,000	500,000,000	550,000,000
Quarterly amortization of term loan facility, annual rate (as a percent)																								1.00%	1.00%
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)					0.23%		1.75%	2.75%												2.25%	3.25%
Effective rate (as a percent)			0.80%							3.52%		3.27%					4.35%					3.48%				4.62%				6.84%		7.50%
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 paid																									$ 13,000,000
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
Variable rate basis					Interbank Deposit Certificate Rate		Federal funds effective rate	LIBO												Base rate	LIBO
Variable rate floor																					1.00%
Minimum effective rate (as a percent)	75.00%																				1.00%