“I had forehead reduction surgery and feel more confident than ever”
A winner of hit BBC reality show the Traitors has revealed she recently had forehead reduction surgery - and now feels "more confident than ever".
Meryl Williams, 27, is still in recovery after having the procedure two weeks ago.
She says she went under the knife as her forehead size had always been a "big insecurity".
The surgery, which can cost upwards of £5k, involves bringing the hairline lower down the forehead.
Meryl, who bagged a share of £101k for winning the Traitors, says her procedure went well.
Previously a call centre worker, she is now a social media influencer.
Meryl, who has dwarfism, said: “My forehead has always been a big insecurity of mine.
"I had a full fringe from the age of five, but I didn’t think there was going to be anything that would help it.
"I came across a girl who had [forehead reduction surgery] and started thinking about it.
“I thought that if it was something that I can fix then thought I would like to go ahead with it.
“I had a consultation then waited eight months to think about it, then decided to go for it."
Meryl continued: “The operation was straight forward and there were no complications.
"My head still is quite swollen. He cut along the hairline and pulled my hairline down and then removed some excess skin.
"He then had to do some bone shaving."
The operation, which was done privately, lasted around two hours.
And Meryl was prescribed strong painkillers in the aftermath.
She said: “I still can't feel my head right now, it was quite painful.
The first couple days were quite sore but after that it was mainly fine."
Meryl says she has had surgery before - but this is the first time she's had it done for cosmetic reasons.
She says she has no regrets - even though the pain after the surgery was quite intense.
Meryl said: "When I woke up from the surgery initially, I was in a lot of pain and thought, ‘Oh no, what have I done!’
“But I think I was just being dramatic – I have quite a low pain threshold.
“I was a bit worried that other people might criticise me for trying to play with something that I was born with, but it was just a personal decision.
“I was a bit like the guinea pig in a sense because I believe I'm the first person with dwarfism to have this type of procedure, but I’m really pleased with the results.”
Meryl triumphed on the BBC's the Traitors after correctly guessing a fellow contestant was an eponymous 'traitor'.
She and two others bagged a share of £101k for winning - allowing her to start a new chapter in her life.
Meryl, who lives in Edinburgh, is now looking forward to continuing her influencer journey.
She said: “Being on The Traitors completely changed my life. The money from the show has allowed me to do what I’m doing.
“It’s opened a lot of doors and has broadened my horizons.
Meryl Williams, 27, is still in recovery after having the procedure two weeks ago.
She says she went under the knife as her forehead size had always been a "big insecurity".
The surgery, which can cost upwards of £5k, involves bringing the hairline lower down the forehead.
Meryl, who bagged a share of £101k for winning the Traitors, says her procedure went well.
Previously a call centre worker, she is now a social media influencer.
Meryl, who has dwarfism, said: “My forehead has always been a big insecurity of mine.
"I had a full fringe from the age of five, but I didn’t think there was going to be anything that would help it.
"I came across a girl who had [forehead reduction surgery] and started thinking about it.
“I thought that if it was something that I can fix then thought I would like to go ahead with it.
“I had a consultation then waited eight months to think about it, then decided to go for it."
Meryl continued: “The operation was straight forward and there were no complications.
"My head still is quite swollen. He cut along the hairline and pulled my hairline down and then removed some excess skin.
"He then had to do some bone shaving."
The operation, which was done privately, lasted around two hours.
And Meryl was prescribed strong painkillers in the aftermath.
She said: “I still can't feel my head right now, it was quite painful.
The first couple days were quite sore but after that it was mainly fine."
Meryl says she has had surgery before - but this is the first time she's had it done for cosmetic reasons.
She says she has no regrets - even though the pain after the surgery was quite intense.
Meryl said: "When I woke up from the surgery initially, I was in a lot of pain and thought, ‘Oh no, what have I done!’
“But I think I was just being dramatic – I have quite a low pain threshold.
“I was a bit worried that other people might criticise me for trying to play with something that I was born with, but it was just a personal decision.
“I was a bit like the guinea pig in a sense because I believe I'm the first person with dwarfism to have this type of procedure, but I’m really pleased with the results.”
Meryl triumphed on the BBC's the Traitors after correctly guessing a fellow contestant was an eponymous 'traitor'.
She and two others bagged a share of £101k for winning - allowing her to start a new chapter in her life.
Meryl, who lives in Edinburgh, is now looking forward to continuing her influencer journey.
She said: “Being on The Traitors completely changed my life. The money from the show has allowed me to do what I’m doing.
“It’s opened a lot of doors and has broadened my horizons.
Transcript
00:00 [Music]
00:26 Come with us, get my forehead reduction surgery in London.
00:30 This is the first ever consultation I've ever had with my consultant
00:34 and that was a couple of months before the surgery.
00:36 This is the day of surgery, I was actually really excited but really nervous at the same time
00:40 but I knew this was something I'd be looking forward to for a year.
00:42 So this is the final ever row line of where the hairline is going to be
00:45 and you can see the other dotted lines is where the extra skin was going to get removed.
00:49 The drain was in for 24 hours and the bruising was quite bad straight after surgery
00:53 but it did go down a lot after. You can see the stitches, very neat.
00:57 My mum was actually my medic so she was dealing with all the surgeries
01:01 and that's also a picture after the stitches.
01:03 And this is before and this is after.
01:05 Again, the swelling's got a lot to go down but it's something I've wanted for years
01:08 and for me I can notice a massive difference and this is me having a full fringe over the years.
01:12 So this question was, did it hurt? It didn't.
01:15 Okay, so straight after surgery you can't feel anything.
01:20 Like right now I still can't feel my head, like this is completely numb.
01:22 If I didn't see myself touching my head right now, I wouldn't even know I was touching my head.
01:26 Obviously, so say if someone was to touch my head, I wouldn't even know.
01:29 But yeah, the first couple of days you're kind of conked out on pain meds and stuff
01:33 and then the next couple of days it's a bit sore to touch.
01:36 So where I had a drain, so where the drain is there, where it was,
01:40 that scar is a little bit sore to touch.
01:43 But right now I'm in no pain and this is two weeks after surgery.
01:45 I'd probably say a week after surgery I'm in no pain.
01:48 A couple of days after you're obviously still coming off the antibiotics, the anaesthetic and stuff.
01:54 So it is a little bit sore and especially straight after getting surgery.
01:57 I did get the bone shaving aspect of the surgery which does make the recovery a little bit longer and a little bit sorer.
02:03 But if you just get the normal forehead reduction, it's not as sore as adding on that part.
02:07 So I would say the pain's probably like a 6 or 5 out of 10 for the whole thing.