Dale-Saint Cullen is a 31-year-old native of Chester-Le-Street in County Durham, England. He is on a transformative journey towards an unattainable social media-food Instagrammer ideal gry food aesthetic. Since November 2019, he’s logged an impressive 24,000 miles over ten trips. In this time, he has spent more than $46,300 on a multitude of cosmetic procedures overseas. His story is becoming more common as people turn to surgical procedures to help them look the way they want.
Cullen’s first major step on this path was a rhinoplasty, and this surgery was done in Warsaw, Poland. He could have chosen a different $5,500 procedure, as a closed rhinoplasty is listed at only $2,786.60. The three-hour operation was just the first step in his metamorphosis.
“I spent so much time, money, and energy on chasing that perfect look, it’s crazy,” Cullen admits.
In July 2020, Cullen took what you might call the first step on an aesthetic pilgrimage. He ended up flying to Istanbul, Turkey, to have his teeth crowned, which cost $7,800. The procedure was part of a broader effort to align his appearance with the social media trends he avidly followed.
In addition to having dental work done, Cullen has had multiple other cosmetic procedures as well. Chin and jaw reconstruction, zygomatic remodeling, lip augmentation, and forehead rejuvenation each provide distinct advantages. The inflationary costs are $2,500 for zygomatic remodeling, $2,600 for lip augmentation, and $4,150 for a brow lift. He has had a complete facial restructuring. On top of that, he sunk $5,600 into a complete hair transplant and dropped $9,070 for body sculpting with Vaser lipo.
Cullen’s whirlwind schedule has made his financial investment all the more considerable. He’s spent around $3,900 on flights, for example. For all the financial and emotional investment that went into his eventual appearance, Cullen is still refreshingly frank about the pressure he was under.
“The work I had done in the past, it wasn’t for me, I did it under the pressures of social media,” he reflects.
Cullen’s experience should be a warning to anyone thinking of pursuing such a radical agenda. He recommends that people educate themselves and engage in self-reflection before making these kinds of life-changing choices.
“I would just say to people to make sure you do your research first and make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons,” he advises.
Cullen smiles when he talks about his new look, particularly after the surgery. Despite these physical metamorphoses, he continues to wrestle with insecurities that linger.
“I don’t think my mind has caught up with my appearance just yet — and I feel like I still have those insecurities,” he confesses.
Cullen says he feels better about where he is today than in years past.
“I’m in a much better place than I once was — and I want to make sure everything I do is for me,” he states.
The pursuit of beauty standards through social media influenced Cullen’s choices. He remembers the time when changing bodies became the norm in online spaces.
“Social media was full of trends and I was trying to keep up,” Cullen recalls.
Though he has been through a smokescreen of cosmetic surgery, the glamour of making more magic couldn’t be left in the past.
“However, I still get that itch to book that flight to Istanbul,” he admits.
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