A mum has shared how her son was left scared by her 'new face' after she had transformational surgery.
Meghan Potts, 33, underwent double jaw surgery to correct her extreme underbite after spending years unhappy with her appearance.
She said she was so upset by her jaw that she had hid her teeth when she smiled since she was a teenager, and after two years of braces decided to have the procedure at Derriford Hospital in March 2019.
Describing it as 'worse than childbirth', mum-of-four Meghan now admits she doesn't think she could have undergone the surgery if she knew what the 'unbearable' pain would be like - describing it as more intense than childbirth.
It involved moving both her top and bottom jaw by sawing into the bone and putting plates below her eyes which connect to her teeth.
Forced to commit to a liquid diet in the aftermath, the mum-of-four lost over a stone in the first four weeks as she struggled to find the will to eat.
The salon owner found that even after the initial swelling had gone down, her phone's facial recognition system no longer worked and her own was worried to come near her at first as she looked so different.
Even customers she knew at her salon mistook her for a 'new girl'.
Meghan, from Plympton, Plymouth, said: "I was in hospital for five days. The pain was really bad. I've had four babies and it was worse than any of that.
"I woke up screaming in pain. I could feel everything as the pain relief they'd given me wasn't enough.
"When I tried to use my phone to call my mum and dad to let them know I was awake it wouldn't recognise my face on face ID.
"I looked completely different straight away. My son came in the hospital and he wouldn't come near me because he was like 'you look completely different'.
"When I went back to work there were some clients that didn't recognise me, they thought I was a new girl.
"I was surprised I couldn't unlock my phone screen, I didn't think it'd be that much of a dramatic difference straight away and then I asked for a mirror.
"The surgery was between seven and eight hours long, as they do it inside your mouth they have to open it really wide to move it around where they need to cut and drill.
After the procedure, Meghan was forced to wear braces for six months and took liquid morphine to ease the incredible pain.
But the morphine made her feel so unwell she would throw up in her own mouth - which she was agonisingly barely open it due to the braces.
The surgery also meant Meghan had to undertake a liquid diet and consume all food through a straw, causing her to lose a stone as a result.
In videos shared online, she claims custard was her 'best discovery' and shows the struggle with her braces' elastic bands as she had to push chocolate mousse through them.
She said: "I still probably had pain for over a year later.
"The liquid diet was difficult, trying to find savoury things as a liquid was difficult.
"I couldn't really open my mouth to begin with so most of it had to be through a straw, I couldn't even get a spoon in my mouth.
"I had elastic bands clicked onto the brace after the surgery so that meant I had an elastic band right across the front of my mouth so that made eating difficult.
Meghan revealed that she now talks differently following the surgery, as she "used to have a really bad lisp and don't anymore". With her new jaw she is no longer able to touch nose with my tongue, as she could do before, and can't whistle.
But despite the long recovery and feeling 'disconnected' from old photos of herself, Meghan now feels less 'conscious' of the way she looks and is happy she had the procedure done.
Meghan said: "It's still strange now when I look back at photos of what I looked like before, I feel disconnected to that person.
"Also when I look at photos now, I don't completely feel like it's me, it's a bit in limbo.
"I'm definitely glad I've had it done though.
"I'd say I'm more confident now and definitely less self-conscious."
