Danniella Westbrook has been pictured showing the visible scars from her latest round of reconstructive surgery as she continues her long battle to repair the devastating damage caused to her face.
The former EastEnders star, 52, has undergone a string of complex procedures over recent years after decades of cocaine addiction left her facial structure severely damaged.
After travelling to Dubai earlier this year for a £45,000 facelift and neck lift, Danniella has now reportedly undergone further treatments including an upper vascular flap procedure and lip augmentation in a bid to restore her facial features.
The actress was spotted for the first time following the latest operation while visiting celebrity hairstylist Matthew David’s salon in London’s Mayfair. Wearing a pink T-shirt, patterned cardigan and beige trousers, she was seen with rollers in her hair and noticeable scarring beneath her nose.
Earlier this month, Danniella opened up about her ongoing health ordeal during an appearance on Vanessa Feltz’s Channel 5 programme, revealing that she has already undergone multiple procedures and still faces a long road ahead.
“Well, I’ve been through umpteen surgeries. I think I’m coming up to surgery number six at the moment. Five or six will be this Thursday. So it’s quite scary,” she said.
The former soap actress explained that osteoporosis has worsened the condition of her facial bones and revealed that one side of her face no longer has any bone.
“I’ve had quite a few surgeries to rebuild and refix my face. I think since I got older, the osteoporosis has set in on my bones,” she explained.
“On one side, I don’t have any bone at all.”
Danniella said doctors are currently using fillers but ultimately plan to insert a metal cheekbone to replace the damaged area.
“They’ve got to rebuild all my bones. At the moment it’s filler, but they’ve really got to do a metal bone,” she revealed.
She went on to explain that she still has around six more operations ahead of her.
“About another six to go I think after this one,” she said.
The star also described one of her upcoming procedures, explaining that surgeons will perform what she called a “hair lip reversal” to correct the position of her lip.
“The next one they’re doing is like a hair lip reversal because my lip’s so far up now where it’s pulling up that way,” she said.
“I’ve got to do that from the inside, cut a flap from the inside of my cheek, flip it round and over and then bring it in from there and put it through because I don’t want the scarring on the outside of my face.”
Danniella revealed that the gruelling process is expected to continue for another year and a half.
“It’s another 18 months of surgery after surgery after surgery. About every two and a half, three months I’m in surgery,” she explained.
The actress also made the heartbreaking admission that she struggles to accept her appearance.
“I hate it. I hate looking in the mirror. I hate it. I hate looking,” she confessed.
“Even now, I’ve just recently had to have a facelift to realign both sides of my face because they were so wonky.”
Despite the challenges, Danniella remains determined to rebuild her career and has previously expressed hopes of returning to acting once her reconstruction journey is complete.
On the day of one of her major operations earlier this year, she wrote: “Big day for me heading down for a very long surgery right now to rebuild my face. Then I can get back to work.”
The actress famously played Sam Mitchell in EastEnders across several stints and has previously spoken of her dream of returning to the soap once she feels she looks the way she is “supposed to”.
