Modern Family Actor Wishes He Never Got Plastic Surgery on His Face

I've always thought that Haley's love interest on Modern Family was handsome. Whenever Dylan (played by actor Reid Ewing) came on screen, it was hard not to swoon at his blue puppy-dog eyes, caterpillar-thick eyebrows, and floppy hair. At 6 feet, 2 inches tall, the 27-year-old has everything going for him to be considered a stud. (Hey, if he's good-looking enough to stand next to Sarah Hyland, he's pretty enough for me!)

So it's both fascinating and heartbreaking to discover that someone who is as dashing as Reid struggles with a mental illness called body dysmorphic disorder. In an essay that he penned for The Huffington Post, he explained, "Body dysmorphic disorder is a mental illness in which a person obsesses over the way he or she looks. In my case, my looks were the only thing that mattered to me." Caught up in the Hollywood ideal of beauty, Reid underwent several plastic surgeries starting at the age of 19. First up were cheek implants.

After going under the knife, he described his painful experience. "I woke up screaming my head off from pain, with tears streaming down my face," he wrote. "The doctor kept telling me to calm down, but I couldn't. I couldn't do anything but scream, while he and his staff tried seemingly to hold back their laughter. . . . After all the swelling finally went down, the results were horrendous. The lower half of my cheeks were as hollow as a corpse's, which, I know, is the opposite of what you'd expect, as they are called cheek implants. They would be more aptly called cheekbone implants."

Embarrassed by the results, he stayed in isolation, claiming people stared at him in public and that his parents thought he had contracted an illness. This caused him to seek out additional procedures to help him feel better about his face. Reid received a chin implant as well as injectable fillers and fat transfers. Many of the surgeries were botched — for instance his chin implant moved around his jaw.

"Each procedure would cause a new problem that I would have to fix with another procedure," he said. "None of them last very long or are worth the money."

Looking back, he also realized the flaws with his medical care. None of the four doctors who worked on him did a mental health screening. They asked if he had a history with depression (he does), but the conversations were not carried out further.

"My history with eating disorders and the cases of obsessive compulsive disorder in my family never came up," he noted. "None of the doctors suggested I consult a psychologist for what was clearly a psychological issue rather than a cosmetic one or warn me about the potential for addiction."

He added that people with body dysmorphic disorder often become addicted to cosmetic surgery. And the secrecy that surrounds cosmetic procedures often keeps unethical practices in the dark.

At the beginning of 2012, he finally accepted himself. "All the isolation, secrecy, depression, and self-hate became too much to bear," he explained. "I vowed I would never get cosmetic surgery again even though I was still deeply insecure about my looks. It took me about six months before I was comfortable with people even looking at me."

His message to those out there facing similar mental illnesses or considering plastic surgery is this: "Before seeking to change your face, you should question whether it is your mind that needs fixing. Plastic surgery is not always a bad thing. It often helps people who actually need it for serious cases, but it's a horrible hobby, and it will eat away at you until you have lost all self-esteem and joy. I wish I could go back and undo all the surgeries. Now I can see that I was fine to begin with and didn't need the surgeries after all."

Here at POPSUGAR Beauty, we support endless, unique iterations of what it means to be beautiful. As difficult as it can be on some days (like the morning after a particularly rowdy happy hour) to love and accept what you see in the mirror, we encourage you to try. And we commend Reid for being brave enough to share his moving story.

Learn more about body dysmorphic disorder by visiting the Anxiety and Depression Association of America website. And contact a health care professional if you or a loved one is struggling with depression.