EXCLUSIVE Keileigh Lanaway, 24, from Kent, endured taunts about her forehead

Avoided swimming because she was scared of exposing her forehead

Insecurities grew as a teenager as her peer bullied her for how she looked

Refused to allow boyfriends see her brow - and one even moved it in her sleep

After years of searching for a solution she discovered hairline lowering surgery

A woman bullied because of her large forehead has had surgery to lower her hairline after years of being plagued by anxiety.

Keileigh Lanaway, 24, from Welling, Kent, dealt with the problem by growing a fringe to hide her brow having suffered cruel taunts from bullies as a teenager, and avoided swimming for a decade petrified of exposing the body part she hated the most.

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The healthcare adviser would get called 'spam-head' by her peers and revealed that she refused to allow boyfriends to look underneath her fringe.

Now after years of searching for a solution she has finally found the body confidence she craved, thanks to a £6,500 operation to have her hair line lowered.

Keileigh Lanaway spent years of her life conscious about the size of her forehead after being bullied at secondary school

After hiding her brow away under a fringe and never letting her boyfriend see it, she decided to opt for £6,500 surgery to lower her hair line

Now Keileigh proudly displays her entire face after having her forehead lowered to make it smaller

Self-conscious Keileigh, who was supported by her long-term boyfriend Billy Kingwell, 31, when she had the surgery in July 2016, explained how she had always dreamed of having a smaller forehead after being bullied at secondary school.

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'There was nothing said to my face, but you could see people talking about me, pulling their own hair right back, mocking me.

'They'd call me things like, "spam-head". I'd hear it constantly. I was lucky to have close friends but it was still really hurtful.

WHAT IS HAIR LINE LOWERING SURGERY? The surgery is designed to lower the hairline, reduce the height of the forehead and to correct the normal temple recession to give a more rounded hairline. It takes around 1.5 to 2 hours to complete. It's growing in popularity for both women and men. Excess forehead is surgically removed and the scalp is repositioned in order to give a new, more natural hairline. The incisions in the scalp are also made in such a way that hair regrows through the scar itself, vastly reducing its visibility.

'I never told mum and dad about the bullying at school, I never got anyone involved. I kept it all to myself. Things weren't easy at all.'

It wasn't just relationships with her peers that suffered - so too did her attempts at dating, right up until her early twenties.

She adds: 'Up until the operation, there wasn't a single boyfriend who saw me without a fringe. I remember a previous relationship where my boyfriend would say, "What's under there!?"

'One night I woke up and he told me he'd moved it in my sleep. It hurt me so bad. I was devastated,' she recalled.

'It sounds so silly, but that was my comfort blanket. I couldn't even talk to him about it because I was so upset.'

Opting for surgery

Now Keileigh is proudly displaying her entire face for the first time having had her hairline surgically 'lowered' by around 3cm in a procedure at UK clinic London Bridge Plastic Surgery.

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The surgery - which has become increasingly popular in both men and women - is designed to lower the hairline, reduce the height of the forehead and to correct the normal temple recession to give a more rounded hairline.

Dr Chris Inglefield who performed Keileigh's surgery said: 'The high hairline itself can be due to a variety of factors, from simple genetics to hair loss.'

On a holiday to Florida at 13 - this was the last time Keileigh went swimming until a decade later

The health adviser would style her hair to cover her brow

Now she can wear her hair back off her face thanks to the pioneering surgery

Keileigh was thrilled with the operation and could see the results immediately - her boyfriend Billy Kingwell, supported her the entire way through surgery and recovery

It takes around 1.5 to 2 hours to complete. It's most suitable where patients - like Keileigh - feel that the size or height of their forehead isn't in proportion with the rest of their facial features and it's growing in popularity for both women and men.

Excess forehead is surgically removed and the scalp is repositioned in order to give a new, more natural hairline.

The incisions in the scalp are also made in such a way that hair regrows through the scar itself, vastly reducing its visibility.

Hiding underneath a fringe

Keileigh, a healthcare adviser, said: 'I always knew that my forehead was bigger than normal. And from my early teenage years onwards, I really started to compare myself to others.

My fringe didn't move for years. That was my hideaway

'My fringe didn't move for years. That was my hideaway. If I had a shower, I wouldn't even go downstairs without my fringe being done.

'My insecurities led to me putting up so many emotional barriers.

'But now, after the surgery, every single day I look in the mirror and can't believe what I see.

'It's like the old me never even existed. I've started putting my hair in a side-parting for the first time, abandoning my fringe, and letting it fall naturally.

'And for the first time ever, I feel and I sound like 'myself'.'

Keileigh would always wear her hair with a fringe, never letting her friends or family see her face without it

Keileigh was always conscious about the size of her forehead

Through surgery she was able to get it lowered

Avoided swimming for fear of exposing her brow

Keileigh, who for a while even trained as a hairdresser, was always looking for a medical treatment which might change her life - but she never found anything that offered even a glimmer of hope.

She reveals: 'I never, ever went swimming - not since I was 13 on a family holiday in America.

'But I'd lie awake at night and fantasise about jumping into the pool.

'If I could find a way to make my forehead smaller, I could dive into the water and come up without having to panic or worry that my fringe was out of place.

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'I'd dream about that moment, over and over again. But it was always just that - a dream - because I didn't now if anything could ever be done about it.

'I'd tell myself saying, 'Don't be ridiculous. There's no type of surgery that can do what you want. You just need to come to terms with your own body.' But I just couldn't do it. I couldn't get my head around it.'

Keileigh, pictured with her partner Billy, was finally able to achieve her dream of swimming without worrying about her forehead

Keileigh says she is happier than she's ever been and has found her body confidence has grown thanks to the procedure

'A light at the end of the tunnel'

Keileigh struggled on, before she discovered a new procedure pioneered by UK surgeon Chris Inglefield - who also recently treated celebrity and model Katie Price, giving her a facelift.

She only looked at a couple of 'before' and after' pictures before her decision to book a consultation was made knowing that she could see a 'light at the end of the tunnel'.

It then took around nine months for her new hairline to 'settle'. But she says the results were instantly visible, much to her delight.

She adds: 'When they first removed the bandages in the hospital, I was so pleased - so, so pleased. It was just what I wanted.

And Keileigh was finally able to achieve her 'dream' of going swimming without worrying about her forehead at a friend's wedding in Greece.

'I was under the water, thinking about all I'd been through. It was a good feeling, that's for sure.

'I'm happier than I've ever been and I've got the confidence to do anything I set my mind to.

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'I'd urge other women in my position to explore the option of surgery, too.'