For TikTok personality Levi Jed Murphy, undergoing five plastic surgery procedures in one go this past July led to near-instant buyer's remorse.
"When I first woke up from surgery, I really regretted it," the Brit recalled in an exclusive interview with E! News' Francesca Amiker. Coming to in a hospital bed in Turkey, some 2,500 miles from his home in Manchester, "I just woke up thinking, 'Oh my God, what have I done?' because I was in so much discomfort," he continued. "I was like, this is not the vibe."
But time heals all wounds—both the hematoma that developed hours after the procedures and any lingering doubts he may have had about this, his fourth batch of cosmetic surgery.
As doctors worked to drain the excess blood from one side of his face, Levi initially worried he might be permanently disfigured. "But now I've recovered and kind of forgot about that," he explained. "So I'm probably ready for round five."
Some people cut bangs when they're ready for a change, Levi opts for a new face.
At 27, he's not trying to appear younger (although if his age wasn't online, he said, "I would be telling people I'm 23"). Levi simply wants to "live my hottest version of myself whilst I'm in my prime years," he explained. "I don't want to get to 40 and then get plastic surgery to look hot. I want to be a hot twentysomething-year-old."
And before he committed to a series of 15 surgeries—two nose jobs, three lip lifts, three temporal brow lifts, a full face lift, a canthoplasty and a blepharoplasty, plus liposuction, buccal fat removal, scar revision and ear pinning—"I wasn't blessed with the most amazing genes," he claimed. "So I get surgery to completely change my face."
He's fairly happy with this latest block of procedures, which included a temple lift, a full face lift, liposuction under his neck, scar revision and removing some of the buccal fat between his jaw and cheekbones.
"The reason why I got loads of plastic surgery in one is because I hate traveling so I think I might as well fit it all in now," he explained. "Plus I don't want to go in for surgery, make such a big deal about it and then I come out and people are like, 'Girl, you look the same.'"
And he certainly isn't mad at the constant comparisons he's getting to Australian actress-slash-model Ruby Rose. "I'm offended on her behalf," he joked, "but I'm flattered."
And, yet, at this point plastic surgery is kinda what he does, sharing the good, the bad and the terrifying with his nearly 6 million TikTok followers. "This time I didn't necessarily hate my face," he allowed of his fourth batch of surgeries. "I was like, I probably could live with this face. But I just want to change it. I want a little bit more attention."
Now that he's gotten loads of it, "I actually said this was going to be my last procedures and I wouldn't get any more," he admitted. But he's been doing a bit of window shopping and "I just see things online and I think, 'Oh my God, I could get that!' Because I realize there's different lifts that you can get underneath the skin that pull your tissue up so it can really snatch your face even more."
Those first few post-op weeks once the swelling goes down, "you look like very snatch because it's obviously fresh," he explained. "And then after a couple of weeks, your face starts dropping to look more like how it's actually going to turn out. So when I see the drop, I'm like, she needs to be lifted again."
And possibly again...and again. With his thirties just a hop skip and a jump away, "I have to start pulling my face back even more because I'm terrified of aging," Levi shared. "That is my biggest fear. When I'm thirtysomething, there's going to be new, cool 20-year-olds and that just sends me."
For now, though, his sense of self is soaring.
While Levi's not quite ready to shoot his shot with his celebrity crush, British rapper Central Cee ("He's obviously very straight, so that's not going to work"), he has definitely gotten a boost from his new look and the DMs pouring into his account.
"When I think how I was before, I'm so different now," he acknowledged. "And I think it is a sense of new confidence I've got. I felt like I was a hot person in an ugly person's body. So now I'm just a hot person in a cute person's body."
Still, as much as he loves his current look, he's not fully committed. Asked what was next for him, he joked, "I'll probably have a new face coming soon."