A man, who had to hide his “huge” nose growth under a motorbike helmet whenever he went out in the day, has bravely shared his transformation story.
Ian Arthur, a 64-year-old retired Navy sailor, started noticing large, red facial bumps on his face over 10 years ago. Concerned, he sought advice from his GP.
The doctor diagnosed him with rosacea, a skin condition causing excessive redness and sensitivity, and offered a course of treatment. Despite this, Ian’s nose kept growing bigger.
Before the COVID lockdowns began, Ian asked for help again and was given a new cream and an exfoliant but those didn’t work either.
Ian, who hails from Helensburgh in Scotland and served in the Navy for over three decades, sadly started isolating himself to keep others from seeing his nose. He became more desperate for a solution to this unusual situation.
It turned out he was struggling with rhinophyma, a nasal deformity caused by an overgrowth of the sebaceous glands and underlying connective tissue.
“The rhinophyma started to develop about 10 years ago, gradually at first, but then more aggressively,” recalled Ian. “It became much worse and much more noticeable until, by two years ago, I started to feel like a freak.”
Ian said: “In my isolation, I called my nose John, after John Merrick in The Elephant Man. It was a massive carbuncle, which people couldn’t help but stare at. During Covid, I started to avoid social situations and, when it ended, I just couldn’t bear to see people.”
“I had to scale back my business, because I felt like clients were only looking at my nose.”
He added: “I even started shopping late at night, when there were less people around. The last time I was out in public was when I took my motorcycle for a ride around Northern Europe, but that was only because I could wear a full-face helmet, and no one could see me. That was heaven.”
Ian was desperate for a change – and his daughter insisted he do something about it.
He found aesthetic Dr Cormac Convery, at Glasgow’s Ever Clinic – and saw they had successfully treated a more severe case of rhinophyma.
Ian, who is originally from Manchester, underwent a two-hour CO2 laser treatment to remove excess skin tissue around the nose, which he described as “like peeling layers of wallpaper.”
Dr Convery then used a pulsed mode laser to restore the original shape of Ian’s nose, followed by a controlled full ablation to prevent noticeable scarring.
“After the treatment in 2023, my daughter insisted that I had to do something about the condition, and I began looking for solutions,” said Ian.
“I thought about going to Turkey, because it was cheaper, but I figured with my luck I would probably end up with a dodgy doctor and my nose would fall off on the way home.”
“At last, I discovered the Ever Clinic, virtually on my doorstep. I saw pictures of what they had done with another poor soul who was, if anything, worse than me. And the cost was affordable. I was dealt with in a single treatment of two and a half hours and, yes, it has changed my life. You must understand, I am a basically a working class, Northern lad and I felt very nervous and out of place in a private clinic.”
He added: “But the staff were brilliant and Dr Convery was utterly superb. I am so thankful. Now it has gone, a huge weight has been lifted from me.”
Ian now has a new lease on life, and plans to makeup for his time in isolation by travelling the world on his motorbike. So far, he has visited Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Gibraltar – and has no plans to stop any time soon.
