It’s no secret that Hollywood stars often cave into the pressure of having a perfect appearance – sometimes taking things as far as going under the knife.
One “Modern Family” star has opened up about his experiences with body dysmorphia, something that led him to plastic surgery addiction after moving to Hollywood in 2008.
At just 19 years old, Reid Ewing – who plays Dylan on the hit ABC sitcom – went under the knife, the now 27-year-old revealed in an essay to The Huffington Post.
"Body dysmorphic disorder is a mental illness in which a person obsesses over the way he or she looks. In my case, my looks were the only thing that mattered to me," he wrote. "I had just moved to LA to become an actor and had very few, if any, friends. I'd sit alone in my apartment and take pictures of myself from every angle, analyzing every feature."
He soon made an appointment with a plastic surgeon, believing that in just one procedure, “I would suddenly look like Brad Pitt.” That’s when he got into a cycle, attempting to perfect what appeared to be mistakes by each surgeon, one by one, never fully being satisfied with himself.
"I woke up screaming my head off from pain, with tears streaming down my face,” he said of his first surgery, which were cheek implants. "The lower half of my cheeks were as hollow as a corpse's.”
After years of more procedures, injectable fillers and fat transfers – and no mental health screenings by any doctor, mind you – he’s left with regret.
"I wish I could go back and undo all the surgeries," he said. "Now I can see that I was fine to begin with and didn't need the surgeries after all."
