Latest news with #mother of two
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
I spent £5,000 on surgery to reduce the size of my forehead- here's what I look like now
A mother felt so self-conscious about her hairline that she spent £5,000 on surgery to reduce her forehead. Chloe Walker, from Hornchurch, Essex, had always been insecure about the size of her forehead and kept it covered with a fringe since she was around 10 years old. The 34-year-old thinks she's gone through thousands of bottles of hairspray over her lifetime as she desperately tried to keep the fringe in place. The mother-of-two said she was living in constant fear that a gust of wind would expose her head and eventually decided to splash out on a £5,000 forehead reduction op in Notting Hill, London. Chloe, who works as a quantity surveyor, said her forehead was 9cm prior to surgery on 14 July and it is now just 6.5cm. Chloe, said: 'It has changed my life. I instantly feel happier when I wake up. I've always been self-conscious all my life to be honest. 'I probably didn't really notice the way I looked until I was like 10 or 11. I got a fringe put in and it gave me confidence. 'It got to the point where I was too uncomfortable to go swimming with my kids anymore. 'People are uncomfortable about what they might look like in a swimsuit, I was just worried about if my hair got wet, if my head was on show. 'I want them to remember me as a mum who went swimming with them, went underwater and didn't care. 'Or a mum who wasn't worrying if she didn't have her cap when she went for a walk or a mum who didn't freak out if her hair was blown in the wind. '[Since the op] I feel free. I feel like I can walk down the street and I'm a free person. 'I am just looking forward to playing with my kids and letting them splash me without worrying, putting my sunglasses on my head, brushing my hair back. The mother admitted she would even edit photos to make her forehead appear smaller. Chloe said: 'It was taking over my life to the point where I would try to edit the size of my head on my photos. I'd try to shrink it. 'Even family photoshoots that we've had done. I've edited them and got them printed. 'I got married about three years ago and I still haven't printed my wedding photos. I need to touch them up again. My fringe was stuck to my head so you couldn't really tell. 'I wish I did the surgery before then. I was stressing about it on my wedding day. There was a lot of hairspray on my head. It didn't move. 'I've gone through thousands of bottles of hairspray over 20 years. 'I made sure my photos were on one side so you don't see the other side. I was very self-aware of my angles.' Chloe said she had considered a hair transplant to bring her hairline forwards but was worried it could fail and said it could take a few years for the hair to grow back. She has now taken to TikTok to share her surgery story and document her recovery in the hopes her story will help others who are struggling with their appearance. Chloe said: 'I wanted to help other people who may feel the same as me. 'When I was looking to get this done I kept seeing before and afters but I didn't hear anyone's story, how they felt and the recovery side of it. 'A lot of people are saying my forehead is still big and there's no difference. 'That has bothered me but then I think, 'I know I've had 2.5cm removed so there's not much they could have done and I need to accept this is me now.' 'I have had people say horrible things like, 'oh if I haven't got any paper I'll just write my essay on Chloe's head.' I've been called 'spam-head'. 'Sometimes I look at myself and think, 'oh my god, it's still really big' but I'm thinking, 'no it's smaller than what it was. I need to just embrace who I am now.' 'I was getting to the point where I was a bit self-conscious to go out as much so I needed something instant. I was shutting myself away.'
Daily Mail
11-08-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
My teenage daughter complained of tummy aches for months before doctors found a 'putrid' melon-sized hairball in her stomach... and here is the shocking photo
A mother was left horrified after doctors discovered what she thought was her daughter's 'gluten intolerance' was actually a 'putrid' melon-sized hairball in her stomach; which made the young girl anaemic. Jodie Collins, who lives in Newquay, Cornwall, revealed she went from one professional to another trying to figure out what could be behind 14-year-old Erin's sporadic tummy pains, which had been bothering her since November last year before the baffling revelation. The mother-of-two believed her symptoms could be a food intolerance but all the relevant testing came back as normal. It wasn't until May of this year that her child's cramps grew dramatically worse, leading Jodie to push for answers. The 48-year-old was immediately concerned when doctors felt a hard mass that was believed to be a hairball in Erin's stomach - also known as a trichobezoar. She was rushed to Bristol Children's Hospital, where a surgery confirmed a giant, 8.3-inch hairball was stuck inside the unsuspecting teen's stomach - and was likely there 'for years'. Surgeons spent five hours pulling out the blockage, which had consequently left Erin suffering with multiple nutritional issues. Jodie, who works in administration, said her daughter had been a hair-twirler since a baby - but had never seen her ingest any of her tresses, leading doctors to suspect that Erin could be eating her 20-inch locks in her sleep. Luckily, Erin has made a recovery after 10 days in hospital, but the shocking ordeal has left Jodie determined on sharing the dangers of hair-twirling with others. 'Erin was suffering with really bad stomach cramps for a good six months,' she added. 'I put it down to food intolerances, I thought she could be lactose or gluten intolerant. 'The doctors couldn't seem to figure it out. The food intolerance tests found nothing. 'The pain was quite high up. It was really sporadic but when it came, it was really bad and she had to be off school. 'I pushed it with the doctor and they referred her for an ultrasound but that didn't pick up anything and it was completely normal.' It wasn't until later scans that the horrifying discovery was made. 'As a baby I used to bottlefeed her and she would grab my hair and twist it,' Jodie revealed. 'She's always been really tactile and played with hair. 'But I have never seen her put her hair in her mouth, which is why it was shocking to me. 'The surgeon said she could be doing it in her sleep without even realising. She twirls her hair a lot.' The hairball left Erin's stomach three times bigger than its usual size - and she was then given a personalised vitamin and mineral food bag to help replenish the nutrients that it had been preventing her body from ingesting. 'The surgeons said the smell was unbelievable,' Jodie admitted. 'I'd imagine it was like your worst plughole. He said it was putrid and one of the biggest they'd ever dealt with. 'They're not sure how long it was there for. I suspect it was years looking at the size of it. 'They were really grateful when they went in that it hadn't gone into her intestines as that would've been really complex. 'It took up pretty much the whole of her stomach. The consequence of that was her food wasn't being processed properly. She was anaemic and had lots of nutritional issues. 'Her stomach was drained after. It was much more serious than I'd ever anticipated. It could've been a lot worse, she would've collapsed eventually.' Although Erin is on the road to recovery, her stomach may remain oversized for years. 'We've now bought her one of those bonnets to sleep in just in case she's doing it in her sleep,' Jodie explained. 'Look at getting kids who twirl their hair fidget toys or something to break that cycle or if it's really bad, then apparently CBT therapy can be good for breaking hair-twirling. 'Don't just leave it for years. Definitely try and break the habit.'
