The Traitors star Meryl Williams has revealed she underwent forehead reduction surgery after the show and warned the procedure is ‘not for the faint of heart’.
Meryl, 27, has a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia, which affects the growth of cartilage and can lead to a larger forehead.
After winning season one of the hit BBC show as Faithful with Aaron Evans and Hannah Byczkowski, Meryl used her share of the £33,000 prize money on surgery.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Meryl admitted she was shocked by the initial results as it looked like she had ‘had a fight’ and admitted she had ‘gone into hiding’ while she recovered.
Meryl approached a surgeon at London’s Harley Street Specialist Hospital in February last year and after two phone calls, a Zoom call and one in-person appointment, Meryl went under the knife for two hours in July.
The Traitors star Meryl Williams has revealed she underwent forehead reduction surgery after the show and warned the procedure is ‘not for the faint of heart’ (right, after surgery)
Meryl amassed a legion of fans after starring in season one of The Traitors last year
Having ‘always hated’ her forehead, she used to style bangs growing up in an attempt to hide, before raising the money to go under the knife.
The procedure involved removing the top part of her forehead and then lifting her scalp and moving it forward.
Speaking about the recovery, Meryl said: ‘I really looked like I’d been in a fight. I went into hiding for about a month and didn’t leave because it was yellowish and also the bruises.
‘It looked a lot worse than it was and people thought I was in a lot more pain than I was.
‘Then I started noticing the hair loss, obviously when you cut along the hairline the hair falls out. I was lucky it grew back.”
While she is happy she had it done. Meryl admitted that she wouldn’t want to do it again and explained: ‘It’s not for the faint of heart!
‘But it was still the best decision and I’m so glad I did it. I’m glad I just got it out of the way. It’s something I wouldn’t want to experience again.’
While her photos may seem on the bloody and swollen side, in reality the TV personality revealed that her forehead was numb for weeks.
The sensation was so surreal that she compared the feeling to “dead man’s fingers.”
Meryl, 27, has a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia, which affects the growth of cartilage and can lead to a larger forehead
The Traitors season one winner exclusively told MailOnline how she used her £33,000 prize money for surgery, which left her looking like she was ‘in a fight’
The former BBC contestant, who lives with achondroplasia, approached a surgeon at London’s Harley Street Specialist Hospital in February 2023.
The procedure involved removing the top part of her forehead and then lifting her scalp and moving it forward
Despite being on the table for a relatively short time, Meryl revealed that when she woke up, the results were not immediately noticeable as she looked like she was ‘having a fight’.
But the former call center worker said there were no immediate results even after the operation, explaining that the operation is not for the “feeble-minded.”
Meryl revealed she has ‘always hated’ her forehead, and when she was younger she cut bangs in an attempt to hide its true size
Even when the stitches were removed three weeks later, Meryl admitted she felt nothing.
She said: ‘My forehead was still numb so the stitches weren’t that difficult to remove as he obviously removed it from the area that was numb but you could still feel it a bit.
“You know, just like a dead man’s finger, when someone touches it, but you can’t feel it, but you can feel the sensation if that makes sense.”
Pain may not have been a side effect to worry about, but Meryl revealed she faced another side effect she never expected.
After being prescribed steroids, the content creator revealed she struggled to stop eating and ended up eating six pieces of toast for breakfast and queuing outside Five Guys at 10am.
She said, ‘Oh my God, my appetite has increased so much. I was eating meat and I was with five guys for the opening at 10am because I just wanted to. I longed for everything.
‘And then I said to them: they said you can just get rid of that now, because you are clearly suffering from the side effects.
‘I was just obsessed with food, I ate six pieces of toast for breakfast, not that that’s a bad thing, but it wasn’t good for me.
“I was just obsessed like no amount of food filled me, and then I told them. I think about two weeks, at least two weeks it was the meds, and then it was just painkillers and stuff.”
After successfully winning the game as a loyalist – along with Aaron Evans and Hannah Byczkowski – Meryl decided to spend her first £7,000 on shortening her forehead.
She continued, “And that’s why for the rest of you, if I ever have another surgery, I’m going to say don’t do steroids because it wasn’t good and it was also summer.
“It wasn’t that good.”
After three weeks of recovery and more than six months of waiting for her hair to grow, Meryl revealed that she is only just beginning to reap the benefits of her surgery as she has had to wait patiently for her hair to grow back.
Meryl said that although she wouldn’t want to do it again, she is very happy with the results as she is now growing a bit of bangs.
She still has a large portion of her show winnings left and hasn’t spent that much money on anything else since leaving the show.