You’d be forgiven for thinking Jenya Bolotov is totally quackers.
Because the platypus-loving designer has spent seven years transforming himself into a human version of the furry duck-billed creature.
The 26 year old from Russia has put himself through hours of excruciating pain stretching eight parts of his face beyond all recognition to achieve his bizarre look.
Jenya has had both of his ear lobes, his nostrils, septum and his top and bottom lip stretched to over nine and a half inches altogether.
He is also the only person in the world to have the very top bridge of his nose stretched.
And Jenya says he won’t stop gouging his body until he realises his vision.
He explained: “I love platypus – the way they look and even the word ‘platypus’ itself. I like the way my stretched face and lips now look like a platypus bill.
“All of the modifications I have added to my body make me feel whole. This is what I am now. It is what I have always wanted to be.”
Growing up, Jenya was shy and felt like he didn’t fit in with the people around him.
He said: “I was a very quiet child. When I was a kid, I felt as if I didn’t belong in this world. I felt like it wasn’t my world and that I was looking at it as if from outside.
“I knew that I would have to genuinely change myself and live differently to feel happy.”
Jenya first became aware of body modifications at the age of ten when he began to explore body piercings.
Next up was ear-lobe stretching and his transformation began from there. He even stretched his own lobes aged 18 before later discovering lip-stretching customs in African countries.
He added: “I loved the way it looked – the way you could stretch your body to become who you want to be. It’s such a beautiful art.
“I had no knowledge of how to do it so I made a lot of mistakes with my earlobes. But it was the start of my journey.
“Then my friend said that if anyone could achieve a truly big, horizontal lip, they would look like a platypus. I wanted to be like that. I loved the large bill of a platypus.”
Aged 19, Jenya started the slow and painful process of stretching his own top and bottom lip as he aspired to the look of the egg-laying mammals.
Seven years on, he has finally achieved a stretched size of 58mm on his bottom lip and 33mm on his top lip. And he hasn’t finished yet
Jenya added: “Externally, I am now a platypus. My resemblance is the way I want it to be. Inside though, I am more like a bird. They’re my spirit animal and they come to me in my dreams.”
Jenya, who is single, claims his mad modifications don’t affect day-to-day life.
He said: “I can eat, talk and speak on the phone like everyone else. Nothing has changed at all. I do attract a lot of negative attention when I walk down the street and sometimes people make mean comments.
“I’m used to it now though and I just try to ignore them.”
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Source: Metro UK