A young man who endured years of relentless comments about his wonky jaw has undergone gruelling surgery to correct his underbite – leaving him almost unrecognisable.
Luke McLuckie, 24, from New Islington in Manchester, began developing an underbite at just 13, causing his lower jaw to jut centimetres in front of his upper teeth.
At a routine dental appointment in 2015, the account executive was told he would need surgery to realign his jaw – but would have to wait until he was at least 18, to ensure his skull was fully grown.
As he waited for the chance to fix what he described as an ever-worsening deformity, Luke said his mental health suffered – leaving him too self-conscious to share photos from his graduation or a cycling tour of Europe.
‘I was very insecure about my side profile,’ Mr McLuckie recalled. ‘When I laughed or smiled, it would be really obvious.
‘In social settings I’d avoid talking to someone side-on, and when I went to university it held me back from embracing all the new things that were there.
‘I would definitely think twice about joining new societies or going to socials because I’d be out of my comfort zone.’
Cruel comments only made matters worse, he said: ‘The worst things came from strangers,’ he added.
Luke had an underbite of over 1.5cm
He said that his appearance mad him really insecure, only made worse by people commenting on his looks on nights out
But in July, Luke was finally able to undergo realignment surgery, making him unrecognisable
‘When I was 18 and would go on nights out, most people would be nice but there would be that one drunk person that would rip into you and be really nasty.
‘I remember in 2021, I was out for the Euros Quarter final with friends and this drunk guy standing next to me was like ‘what is wrong with your jaw?’
‘He was ripping into me and being really nasty about my underbite. That has stuck with me for so long,’ he added.
But in July this year, Ms McLuckie was finally able to have the five-hour-long surgery at Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham, to correct his underbite and give him back his confidence.
The gruelling surgery involved having his gums cut open and his top jaw shunted 11cm forward and his bottom jaw 4mm back.
As a result, his face swelled up and he suffered ‘sharp’ nerve pain, which he likened to having an open wound, caused by the titanium plates and screws used to secure his jaw in place.
Given the significance of the procedure, Mr McLuckie took weeks to recover and was on a liquid diet for the six weeks following the operation, and housebound for a month.
‘All the doctors were saying I looked like a different person and this is what I wanted to hear,’ he recalled.
Now Luke’s friends take a while to recognise him with his new look
The surgery took a gruelling five hours leaving him with swelling and severe nerve pain
Luke is now determined to raise better awareness for what he went through – helping others to get the support they need
‘But the recovery was really tough, I felt like a toddler again. I was drinking milkshakes through a Tommee Tippee cup.
‘Psychologically it’s so weird not to be able to chew or get any pleasure out of eating.
He added: ‘You can’t feel your bottom lip for the first month or so, so there was a lot of dribbling.When you’re walking around the house, you have to have a tissue to mop up.’
It took seven weeks for the account executive to pluck up the courage and strength to leave his house, but when he did his confidence grew immensely until he was at a point where he liked his own reflection.
Four months on his appearance has changed so drastically his friends barely recognise him.
He said: ‘I was in the pub and I went to the toilet and there was a mirror where I could see my side profile.When I saw this, I looked like a completely different person. I smiled and my bite line was perfect.
‘I loved who I saw even though I was still swollen and not fully recovered,’ he added.
‘Every friend I’ve met since surgery, there is a period of adjustment about five to 10 minutes where they look at me. They know it’s ‘Luke’ because of my mannerisms but I don’t look like ‘Luke’ and they look at me like a stranger and it takes them a few minutes to warm up.’
Luke was even reluctant to share pictures from his epic cycling tour across Europe because of his underbite
Following the surgery, Luke was on a liquid diet for six weeks
He didn’t even want to share photos from his graduation
Despite growing in confidence, the advertising account executive still has a long road ahead of him, and will need to continue wearing braces for up to a year.
HJe is now determined to raise better awareness for the stigma caused by his facial deformity, as well as the problems it caused with his breathing and sleeping.
‘Only 10 per cent are physical effects,’ he explained.
‘The rest is mental and how you view yourself and how confident it makes you.We need to raise awareness of this condition and how bad it is to have an overbite, underbite or misaligned jaw.
‘If you see someone on the street or someone you know and you’re judging them because they don’t look quite right, the looks are just the tip of the iceberg.
That person is suffering from not being able to eat or breathe properly, not sleeping well and not liking what they look like in the mirror either.’