Mikishi, a 25-year-old girl from Japan, has been getting a lot of attention on Asian social media lately, because of her drastic plastic surgery transformation.
Ever since taking to Twitter to confess that her appearance is the result of several bouts of plastic surgery, back in March of this year, 25-year-old Mikishi has become somewhat of a poster-girl for early plastic surgery.
She had her first cosmetic procedure, a facial reshaping, on the first day after graduating high-school, and she has since turned to plastic surgery several more times, spending about 4 million yen ($40,000) in the process. But she considers it money well spent, as plastic surgery changed her life, giving her back her self-esteem and helping her lead a happy life, instead of sinking into a depression.
Today, Mikishi actually advocates for plastic surgery for people who really feel like they need it, and she has even founded a company that provides consultancy services to such individuals.
Mikishi told Japanese magazine SPA! that she decided that she wanted to undergo plastic surgery in high-school. As a junior, she confided in a classmate that she dreamt of becoming a model, only to have her secret shared with other colleagues who would later mock her for it. Even the friend she had trusted laughed at her, asking her if she looked in the mirror lately.
She had never had a problem with her looks before that embarrassing episode happened in junior high-school, but from that point on she became obsessed with her appearance, thinking herself ugly and refusing to share her dreams and aspiration with anyone. She recalls looking around and thinking that all the other girls were cuter than she was. It got so bad that she could barely focus on anything else but her looks.
“I hated my face so much that I didn’t want people to see my face, so I didn’t like walking outside or getting on the train. That’s why I even had my parents pick me up from school by car,” Mikishi said. “Also, my mentality was very unstable, and I would suddenly burst into tears during class. I thought I couldn’t go on living living like that, and when I graduated I was prepared to break the ties with my friends. I confessed to my mother that I wanted to have plastic surgery as soon as I graduated.”
After seeing how serious of an issue appearance was to her daughter, Mikishi’s mother agreed to pay for whatever procedure she wanted done, as long as she consulted a doctor first. The very first day after graduating high-school, Mikishi went under the knife for a full eye incision, ptosis reshaping and a procedure on the outer corners of her eyes.
However, that very first experience with plastic surgery only made things worse. She started thinking about what other people would think when they saw her. What if she still wasn’t pretty enough? So she didn’t step out of the house for three months, and plunged into a deep depression. Her family helped her through it, and she started socializing after getting a part-time job at a Government office.
Mikishi still wasn’t confident in her appearance so she turned to plastic surgery again, getting a chin implant, nose job, as well as more work on her eyes. She has had four major plastic surgery operations so far, which cost around 4 million yen ($40,000), as well as some maintenance procedures. It’s a lot of money, Mikishi acknowledges, but she says it was all worth it, because it changed her life completely.
For example, today she feels comfortable trying on clothes that she wouldn’t dare put on before. She had some brands she liked a lot, but she would look in the mirror and say “this face doesn’t look good on you”. She though skirts’ and heels were suitable for pretty women, but not for her.
Mikishi took out a loan to afford all the plastic surgery she had done, but she confidently says that she prefers to be in debt than suffer from low self-esteem. Now she wants to help other people to better themselves without going through the hardships she went through. To that end she founded Popelka Co. Ltd., a company that provides consultation and counseling regarding plastic surgery, hospital introductions, cost support and interpreter support for procedures outside of Japan
“If you want to get plastic surgery or don’t like your face, you shouldn’t get the wrong person to talk to,” Mikishi said. “Parents and school teachers never understand your reasons and and many people only say nice things. I once consulted with a school health teacher about my problems. Then he said, ‘There are a lot of people who live happily even if they aren’t cute.’ It’s hard to realize that there is no one who understands you.”
Ever since she shared her own transformation on Twitter, she has been getting a lot direct messages on Twitter from people asking for help either for themselves or their loved ones who are going through similar issues. Through Popelka, the 25-year-old hopes to normalize plastic surgery for people who really need it, and counsel those thinking about going under the knife.
