Bella Harrington went under the knife because she believed her ears 'stuck out way too much' and school bullies had made cruel jibes about her 'elf ears'
A LITTLE girl has gone under the knife after cruel school bullies teased her about having 'elf ears.'
Bella Harrington from Richmond, Virginia, in the US underwent cosmetic surgery to have her ears pinned back as she said they "stuck out way too much".
The 11-year-old told : "They would always, like, point it out, and at first I didn't care about it.
"But then the more people pointed it out is when I wanted to change it."
Her mother Sabrina told the station: "She started saying they were being mean. I kept telling her it doesn't matter what they think but it did, it mattered to her.
"They were teasing her over it, one thing they said was that she had elf ears."
Although it's been almost three months since her surgery in December, Bella is still emotional about her transformation and says she is 'so happy' with the results and can now wear her hair up without being conscious about her ears.
While her surgery may seem like extreme measures to some, Bella's surgeon Dr Joe Niamtu says pediatric cosmetic surgery is becoming more common as, when it comes to correcting an issue that's prompting bullying, it's better to do the surgery on a younger patient.
"We like to treat these children before they enter school, so it’s not uncommon that I’m doing four or five year-olds," Dr Niamtu said.
"And the reason is bullying, or peer pressure. It’s been shown to psychologically have the ability to affect their self-esteem or body image for the rest of their life."
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