A woman decided to have her hairline surgically lowered to hide her ‘disproportionately large forehead’.
Lisa McKay felt self-conscious for years about the size of her forehead and her hairline that ‘peaked’ back at the sides.
The 25-year-old tooth gem technician was mercilessly bullied, such as by those who photoshopped her face onto photos of Space Raider crisp packets, declaring she ‘looked like an alien’, which battered her self-esteem.
She first became self-conscious about her forehead when she was a young teenager.
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"It was one of those things I just ignored, but I did get quite bullied as a teenager for it,” Lisa said about her old forehead.
"I used to have people making Photoshop edits of me and my forehead.
"They used to edit the bottom half of my face onto the alien's head on the Space Raiders crisp packets and say 'Lisa looks like an alien because her head's so big'.
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"People used to always say 'you've got a fivehead, look how big your head is' or 'you could land an airplane on that thing'. At the time it was really hurtful.
"I was heavily bullied most of my high-school life unfortunately, and the forehead thing was one of many things I was bullied over.
"It wasn't very nice at all. I eventually had to move schools."
Lisa got floral tattoos just below her hairline in 2020 to try and mask her forehead. After spending years contouring her hairline to make it look smaller, she decided to get a mullet and fringe last summer.
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Lisa said: "Before I realised that the surgery I got was a thing, I got the tattoos right in that 'peak' bit to try and disguise or take away from it.
"I think it did work, everyone used to compliment them and I think that it took your eyes off my hairline, but I don't think I was ever going to be fully satisfied with that.
"I could still see that my hairline and my head wasn't the way that I wanted it.”
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This hairstyle change was to no avail as Lisa said she also has a cowlick, meaning her fringe didn't sit right, leaving her 'equally frustrated'.
"I just thought 'I can't win here'. I just started to accept that I was going to have to put up with it and that there's nothing I could do,” she said.
After learning about forehead reduction surgery while browsing through TikTok, Lisa booked into a Harley Street clinic and went under the knife for the £8,150 procedure on Tuesday (15 July).
Lisa, from Paisley, Renfrewshire, said she is thrilled with the results. “"I honestly can't put into words how happy I am,” she said.
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“I just can’t believe that’s my forehead looking back at me in the mirror.”
The surgeon measured and assessed her face and scalp laxity, then drew markings for where the new hairline would be.
During surgery, Lisa's skin was sliced open, her scalp was peeled back off her skull and then stretched over the skull towards the new hairline.
The excess skin, approximately 2 cm, was cut away before her scalp was reattached to her skull using microscopic hooks and her new hairline was stitched together.
Lisa said: "My hairline's moved by at least a couple of centimetres, especially the bits at the side they moved quite significantly.
"I was in surgery for an hour and a half, and the pain wasn't too bad.
"They gave me all my medication and an after-care kit that will help my scar. I was then pretty much good to go.
"Now I have to keep suntan lotion on it to help with scarring.
"I'm not allowed to tie my hair up for three weeks because of the pressure and I'm not allowed to dye my hair or wear hair extensions for eight weeks.
"I'm allowed to get laser tattoo removal on the tattoo that's left on my forehead as of four weeks from my surgery, which is quite good.
"I'm planning to do that. I just thought I might as well start fresh with a blank forehead to show off how small and cute it is.
"I'm just looking forward to having my hair tied back and not having to worry about my forehead.
"I'm really excited to wear make-up for the first time, I won't have to contour as heavily."
Gregory Robinson