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Jennifer Hiles was born with a slight facial deformity. There was always a patch of slightly darker, red skin in the center of her face, but her family and doctors always thought it was a birthmark.
When she turned 12, however, the mark grew angrier in color, and Hiles was diagnosed with arteriovenous malformation (AVM). This condition meant that the blood vessels in her face hadn’t formed properly, causing irregular connections that could potentially hemorrhage at any time.
For Hiles, AVM was not just a health threat, but also something that made her an easy target for bullies. Everyone made fun of her for looking different, giving her “unwanted stress.”
At 29, Hiles was finally ready to rid herself of her condition.
Her doctors inserted saline balloons under the skin of Hiles’ face, encouraging extra skin to grow over the course of eight months. Once enough skin had developed, the doctors removed the balloons and used the extra skin to reconstruct much of her affected face.
“When I first woke up from surgery and I was in the recovery room I actually felt so good that I didn’t feel like I’d had the surgery at all,” Hiles remembered, “I had to ask the doctor by me what happened.”
Hiles asked to see her new face, and she “was so happy because [her] entire face was just white and it looked AVM-free and [she] just couldn’t believe it was [her].”
It’s been four months since Hiles had the operation done, but her surgeons all agree that she’s made fantastic progress so far.
There were a few bumps in the healing process, particularly when the new skin on Hiles’ right cheek began to die. Hiles’ doctors have already predicted that she will need many more cosmetic surgeries in the coming future to continue repairing and reconstructing her face – and continue removing the AVM as it grows back over time.
Although Hiles knows her future inevitably involves more doctors and more procedures, she’s still extremely happy with how far she’s come. “I'm happy with where I'm at right now with all the progress, just to see how far I've come makes me so hopeful for the future.
“I just hope that all my next surgeries go as planned and the scars all fade and one day I can just walk into a room and have people see me for me and not my condition all the time.”
