A woman in Thailand was left unable to recognize her 22-year-old son after he underwent a drastic plastic surgery makeover in South Korea for a popular television show. Looking at the man’s before and after pictures, who can really blame her?
Noppajit Monlin, a 22-year-old factory worker from Thailand, had always been ashamed of his twisted jaw, blemished complexion and his other facial imperfections. At work, he avoided his colleagues as much as possible, eating his lunch alone, instead of joining them, for fear of being laughed at or having to put up with their stares. So when he got selected for the Thai edition of “Let Me In”, a popular South Korean TV show that focuses on extreme plastic surgery transformations, he knew he had a chance to drastically change his life for the better.
Photo: Let Me In Thailand
Monlin was flown to South Korea, where he underwent multiple procedures that would leave him looking literally like a new man. Let Me In Thailand paid for corrective surgery on his jaw, forehead and eyelids, and even threw in some botox injections to help with his excessive drooling, as well as skin treatments for his blemished complexion. After a three-month recovery period, the young man looked so shockingly different that his own mother couldn’t recognize him.
On the Season 3 premiere of Let Me In Thailand, the new Noppajit Monlin can be seen sitting at a table right across from his mother at a restaurant, as she waits for him to show up. “I really miss him, and I’m not acting,” the teary-eyed woman says into the camera, just as her son gets up and starts walking towards her.
Photo: Let Me In Thailand
“Mom, do you remember me? Look at me,” Noppajit asks, to which she replies “Is it you? Is it really you?”. According to Coconuts Bangkok, the woman had to look for his plastic surgery scars to convince herself that she was talking to her son.
“People say I’m a different person. I feel much better. Before, people said my face was not normal and society didn’t accept me, now I have more friends,” Noppajit said on the show.
Photo: Let Me In Thailand
Even though he now looks like a South Korean male model, Noppajit says that he is still the same man inside. His heart still belongs to “Tob” a transgender woman he met on Facebook three years ago, and who has been by his side ever since.
“She took care of me. Even though she’s not a woman, she’s just like one. This woman is the best for me,” Noppajit said. “Although I have a new life now, my heart is the same.”
Photo: Let Me In Thailand video screengrab
“I’m protective of him, but I’m not scared of him leaving me. We’ve trusted each other since the beginning,” Tob said on Let Me In Thailand.
That’s great and all, but I just can’t seem to get passed how this man ended up looking completely different than before. I knew South Korean plastic surgery could be extreme, but this is just crazy.
