A TikTok star who looked like a “cartoon character” because her top jaw was 8mm too small and impaired her breathing and eating is “learning to speak and kiss again” after successful jaw surgery which she documented for her online followers. Struggling with crippling self-esteem issues because of her grade three jaw deformity, Kayley Winterson, 25, says food fell out of her mouth and she could barely breathe through her nose because the gap between her top and bottom jaw was so significant.
Bullied at school as, despite wearing braces, her lower teeth jutted out so noticeably, finally, in April 2022, she had a three hour operation to successfully re-position her top jaw. Five weeks on, she is sharing her new look and her plans to tie-the-knot with the love of her life – trainee emergency medical technician (EMT), Rebecca, 27- with her 19,400 followers on TikTok, where her content makes her a living.
Kayley, who lives with her fiancée in Suffolk, said: “Rebecca has been there for me through everything and now I get to marry her with my new jaw, feeling authentically me.” From a young age, Kayley knew that she would one day need surgery to correct her jaw – an operation that could not be performed until she was an adult and had finished growing.
