Woman with facial deformity has life-changing surgery (2024)

A woman whose facial growth became so enlarged that she would chew on her own skin while she ate has finally had the life changing surgery she dreamed of.

Starrina, from Arizona, appeared on last night's Botched By Nature where she hoped doctors would be able to help with her facial deformity.

After meeting their patient Doctors Paul Nassif and Terry Dubrow Starrina reveals that her that a previous doctor diagnosed her with a hemangioma.

However, the medical experts reveal some shocking news that in fact she has been misdiagnosed for 30 years.

'Upon examining Starrina, we can safely say that this is a misdiagnosis,' Dr Nassif says.

He then explains that a hemangioma gets smaller as a person gets older and in Starrina's case, it has gotten larger, adding: 'This is a vascular malformation, blood just sits in there in pools.'

After correctly diagnosing her the doctors explained that the process of making her growth smaller would be done in two stages.

The first stage is embolization, where they inject foam into her growth to shrink up the blood vessels inside.

The second stage is surgery where the doctors will operate on the growth to try to make it smaller.

After having the embolization, it's time for Starrina to have surgery. Dr Nassif explains that the operation comes with a risk.

He says: ' This is something that's very difficult there's a risk of injuring one of those nerves, bleeding, more scar formation.

'Not that anything we do is simple but in Starrina's case is exceptionally difficult and risky. We're really not going to know what's going on until we get in there.'

However, Starrina is keen to try anything to try and reduce her growth. She says: 'It feels like my whole life I've waited for this opportunity and I'm just excited for the furture'.

In order to give Starrina the best outcome possible, Dr. Nassif brings in Dr. Greg Levitin, a 'super specialist' on vascular malformations.

For Starrina's surgery, Dr. Nassif explains: 'We are going to start by removing a triangular piece of tissue from her lower lip.

'Next we will make incisions inside her mouth and begin conservatively removing as much of the abnormal mass as possible.

'When all is said and done, Starrina's face will have a smoother, more normal appearance.'

When the surgery is done, Dr. Nassif says they were able to get Starrina 'about 75 percent improved'.

About a month and a half after having surgery, Starrina had a second embolization. She then meets up with the doctors three months after surgery and tells them the results are 'amazing'.

Dr Nassif says: 'We took Starrina and improved her, it's not a two-month process when you try to cure something that has been accruing over 30 years.'