Meet Shaunie Blackburn

Shaunie Blackburn

Shaunie, 21 years old, from Leeds, had an open rhinoplasty with Transform..”I looked into it when I was about 20, came to Transform and spoke to an advisor. Then I waited a year and came back. I think most people didn’t think I would get it done. They were apprehensive at first but, because they knew how much I wanted it, they were really supportive.

“Transform were the friendliest people I could have found. I went and visited a few surgeons and a few hospital groups, but Transform seemed to have the most qualified surgeons. And they were just so lovely, so welcoming, they let me think about everything. They’re really good people.

I first came and saw a surgeon in 2015. Then I waited a year to mull it over. I came back in 2016, spoke again, but I was pretty much set on wanting the surgery. I then had the surgery done a couple of months later. I went to Transform’s hospital and it was just lovely, fantastic service and really friendly staff.

I remember going in for surgery, I wasn’t too nervous because I was just so excited to get it done, and then it was over in a split second. I woke up with barely any pain and it was very exciting. The nose splint was a little bit uncomfortable at first, but it’s something you get used to. More than anything, I was very swollen, but not that bruised, so it was okay.

When I came back to Transform for the splint to be taken off my nose, it was a life changing kind of moment. You are handed the mirror and, looking into it, it almost doesn’t look like you, but it does. It was everything you dream of, it’s overwhelming.”