The UK Mirror is Reporting that: A facelift at the
age of 16 sounds like vanity gone mad – but for Zara Hartshorn it gave her a
life as a normal teenager, the Sunday People reveals today.
She was a youngster hoping for love like the
others but her tender skin looked twisted and wrinkled because of a rare
condition.
With prematurely ravaged features and gaps in
her teeth she spent years enduring kids’ taunts of “monkey” and “granny”.
But today, thanks to pioneering surgery, the
bullies are no more than an unpleasant memory.
Zara has found the fella of her dreams. She no
longer feels out of place with her friends and is looking forward to life with
her sweetheart Ricky Andrews.
With her looks transformed, she hopes to open
a beauty salon. - Video and more Photos after the jump:
Recalling the moment all the bandages came
off, she said: “When I saw myself it was mixture of surprise and happiness.
“Growing up I never thought this day would
come. I thought I would be the same for ever.
“I remember the unhappy little girl who was
bullied and I want to go back and tell her it will all be all right. Now when I
look in the mirror I can see opportunities that weren’t there before.
“There is the chance to go to college and have
a better future.
“Before surgery I was picked on for looking
different. Now I look the same as other girls my age.
“I don’t feel like people are staring at me
when I walk down the street any more. I finally feel like a teenager.”
Last July when she was 15, Zara told the Sunday
People of her condition lipodystrophy.
It causes sufferers to age prematurely,
decaying bones and destroying fatty tissue inside the skin.
After that Dr Abhimanyu Garg, a US expert, who
flew her to Texas for tests, contacted her.
Zara was then told she had an even rarer
illness – cutis laxa, which can weaken joints and cause heart and lung
problems.
Reeling from the new diagnosis, Zara was
astonished to be offered a free facelift and nose augmentation by another
leading surgeon, Dr Robert Ersek.
It was hoped the op would allow Zara to lead a
normal life.
After going ahead, the day came when she
nervously removed the last of her bandages.
She was thrilled with the results. Zara, who
stars in a TV documentary this Thursday about her transformation, said: “It was
an amazing opportunity that I could never have dreamed of having before.
“I realized how life-changing it could be but I
was still so nervous about how it would turn out. The night before the
operation I couldn’t sleep because I was so excited. Four days after the
surgery when I had the bandages removed I really didn’t like what I saw.
“Everything was so swollen. I thought I’d made
a huge mistake. But after nine days I had the nose cast removed and realized
straight away how good it looked.
“Now I love my nose. When I came back home
everyone was telling me that I looked completely different. It felt great.
“My sister Chloe’s boyfriend Connor looked at
me three times before he realized it was me.
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