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Woman shares incredible transformation after 'forehead flap' treatment to regrow her nose after extreme cocaine use
A woman has revealed her incredible transformation after undergoing "forehead flap" surgery to reconstruct her nose following extreme cocaine use.
Kelly, who posts on TikTok under the handle @stuartlittle064, first documented her treatment in 2022 after undergoing a procedure known as a forehead flap.
Four years later, she has shown how her nose has changed following multiple surgeries.
"I think I'm doing pretty well because I did not believe that this was going to become a nose, like a natural-looking nose on my face, for a very long time," Kelly said in a video shared in July. "In fact, it looked like s**t for a very long time," she admitted.
Kelly said cocaine 'destroyed' her nose
In a video posted in 2022, Kelly explained that extensive drug use had caused her septum to deteriorate and her nose to eventually collapse.
"I did entirely too much cocaine in the inside of my nose," she said. "My septum deteriorated completely, and then over time, my nose fell flat. I'm in the process of trying to fix it. What's going on right here on my face is called a forehead flap. These things in my nose are called nasal trumpets. They go all the way up here."
A forehead flap is a reconstructive surgical technique in which tissue from the forehead is used to repair significant nasal defects.
Kelly said an "entire flap of skin" was used and explained that the hair growing from the reconstructed area came from her scalp.
"This stays wrapped in medicated gauze," she continued. "No, I'll probably never feel the inside of my nose again."
Tissue from her arm was also used
Kelly went on to describe how surgeons used tissue from her left arm as part of the extensive reconstruction.
"What happened was they had to make a blood supply into the tip of my nose from parts [of] my left arm. So they cut up my left arm. They took out a vein, an artery, a muscle, skin, f***ing all of it, right? Uh, a nerve, took it all out, made an incision here," she said while pointing to her cheek.
"They made a blood supply so that the tip of my nose had life. Because when you do a lot of drugs, especially the types that I did, you will kill the blood, the tissue, to the tip of your nose."
Kelly also explained how the damage had affected the tissue separating her nostrils.
"And I had what they call columella, which is what this skin is here, separating the two nostrils. I had one giant nostril because I did too much cocaine. Don't do drugs," she said.
The woman candidly claimed in the comments that at one stage she had been using an ounce of cocaine every day to day and a half.
She said she has been clean since January 13, 2021, and now uses social media to speak openly about her past addiction and recovery.
Kelly reveals results four years later
After years of treatment, Kelly shared her transformation and admitted that she initially struggled to imagine the reconstruction eventually looking like a natural nose.
She explained that her surgeon had warned her from the beginning that the process would take time.
"And then, you know, when I first met my surgeon, she's like, 'Well, you know, we might do a few surgeries back to back, but then we have to give it time to heal in between each in order to continue to kind of tweak it and, you know, do whatever we need to do.'"
The TikToker stressed that the operations were performed for medical rather than cosmetic reasons.
"None of the surgeries that I've ever had have been considered cosmetic. They've all been medical. Um, so considering that she did a very, very good job," she added.
One unusual consequence of using tissue from her forehead is that hair continues to grow from the reconstructed area.
Kelly revealed that the skin "still grows a lot of hair," adding: "I didn't shave it this morning, so it's very stubbly. It grows very fast."