You can’t read or watch The Lord of the Rings without secretly wanting to be an elf. The mythical characters live thousands of years without aging, and they are more graceful, talented, and beautiful than humans.
When 25-year-old Luis Padron was bullied as a child, he thought the life of an elf sounded pretty good. The Argentinian immersed himself in fantasy books to escape his reality of daily bullying.
He explained to the Daily Mail, “I was bullied as a child and as an escape I would submerge myself in fantasy movies like Labyrinth and The NeverEnding Story, as well as other fantasy tales.” He started experimenting with cosplay–dressing up like characters from movies or other media. Soon, he wanted a more permanent transformation.
When he 14 years old, he started planning the surgeries that would alter his appearance to be more elf-like. He was already tall, pale, and graceful, but there were dozens of other things he wanted to change in his face.
When he was 20, he started with relatively minor procedures, like body hair removal, skin bleaching, and Botox injections.
Soon he started getting more extreme with his alterations. He had a procedure done to change his eye color from brown to blue. The procedure did not give him the results he wanted and led to him having to wear dark sunglasses for days to shield his eyes.
Even though the procedure was done without anesthesia and was painful, Padron plans on going for four more sessions to change his eye color from the now grayish color to crystal blue.
Padron may seem like a perpetually unsatisfied and discontent person, but the opposite is true. He said, “This has changed my life for good in so many ways, I can’t even begin to describe it.”
Padron makes a living by selling cosplay merchandise. With his highly stylized look, he’s a great salesman.
Padron explained his fascination and determination with becoming an elf with an analogy.”I consider myself trans-species, in the same way transgender people feel, I need to become how I feel inside. I don’t expect people to understand, but I ask they respect it,” he said.
If the procedures that Padron has endured seem extreme, you should see what he’s planning for the future. He wants his ears cut, so he no longer has to wear false elf ears.
He wants to remove four ribs for a smaller waist, while getting a limb-lengthening surgery to become even taller. Cat-like eyes, a reduced Adam’s apple, surgery for a more diamond-like jaw, and a nose job are just a smattering of what Padron would like done in the future.
Paying for all this could be difficult as he already has to spend about five grand a month just to keep up his current appearance. This money pays for continual skin and hair bleaching, as well as high-end make up and skin care products.
Padron is just one of many examples of people using plastic surgery to drastically alter their appearance. As the procedures get cheaper, more people are deciding to become someone new.
We hope Padron gets to where he’s trying to go. He shared this reassuring thought. “I don’t consider this an obsession, but in fantasy you have all of the hope, love, friendship and good feelings.”
