The Heartbreaking Reason This 11-Year-Old Went Under the Knife

Virginia girl goes under the knife to face off against bullying https://t.co/iTs0JA9Ljt pic.twitter.com/WxPJTOwfRa

— 8News WRIC Richmond (@8NEWS) February 27, 2018

Bella Harrington is 11 years old and was being bullied because of her protruding ears. "They would always, like, point it out, but then the more people pointed it out is when I wanted to change it," she told 8News. "I thought that they stuck out way too much."

She asked her mom, Sabrina Harrington, to fix it, and the two decided to go the cosmetic surgery route. "They were teasing her over it," Sabrina said. "One thing they said, she had elf ears."

Virginia-based Dr. Joe Niamtu, who performed the procedure, revealed he's done many pediatric cosmetic surgeries and proclaimed the younger the patient, the better.

"We like to treat these children before they enter school, so it's not uncommon that I'm doing 4- or 5-year-olds," he said. "And the reason is bullying, or peer pressure. It's been shown to psychologically to have the ability to affect their self-esteem or body image for the rest of their life."

Even two months after her December surgery, Bella still gets emotional when she sees herself in the mirror. "I wear my hair up a lot, and I'm not focused on if people can see them," she said.

Meanwhile, the only thing her mom cared about was making sure her daughter was happy. "It's no different than getting braces, that changes your appearance," she said. "If it's going to make you feel better about yourself, so be it."