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'I'm going to put myself out there' – young Kiwi Carlos Askew optimistic after life-changing facial surgery

February 19, 2018

Carlos, 21, is confident the dramatic change in his looks, will likewise change his life.

In the days before the surgery he hoped would change his life, Carlos Askew played over in his mind all the ordeals his unique face had brought him in his 21 years.

Having suffered in the womb from his mother's drug habit, Carlos has lived with a facial deformity that brought a childhood filled with bullying and lacking many of the personal and romantic experiences most have. 

And the pain that came with his past was mingled with the fear of the surgery to come.

Carlos punched a hole in his bedroom wall in the days leading up to it.

In reconstructive surgery the first of its kind in New Zealand, his facial bones were about to be broken, shifted and put back in a way that was meant to make him look "normal".

He put on a brave front though, cheerfully answering any questions about any nerves before the surgery.

Nearly every query about his mood or wellbeing was met with "good as gold" or "no worries".

What did he think he would look like afterwards? "More gorgeous than I do now," he answers cheerfully.

And wheeled into the operating theater he gives a message of hope: "Whatever struggles you have just go for it and just smash it. Life's not easy… but have a smile on your face and it will all be sweet."

Now, after the long, brutal surgery how does he feel about the results?

At first the post-surgery swelling made him worried, but there's a different feeling now.

"Great isn't it. 2018 is a new year, so new me obviously, anything's possible," Carlos says.

"I'm definitely going to put myself out there and see what happens."

Carlos' story featured on TVNZ1's Sunday programme last night.

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