Durham man who spent £25K on cosmetic surgery has 'no regrets' but warns of social media pressures

A County Durham man who has spent more than £25,000 on cosmetic surgery says he does not regret receiving treatment - but he is warning others about social media pressures to look 'perfect.'Dale Saint Cullen, 28, from Chester-le-Street, said that he flew to Poland for his first cosmetic procedure, which was a nose job, shortly after he left school.

"When I left school, social media was really taking off, and I saw reality TV stars earning their money from social media posts," he told ITV News Tyne Tees.

"Geordie Shore was becoming a big thing and I saw how much success these people were getting from looking a certain way."

He added: "All these companies were paying them to promote their services, and I just got caught up in that.

"I thought that to be successful or to be liked on that level, that's what a person should look like. I completely fell into the cycle of wanting to change what I looked like."

Dale said that he decided to get a nose job because he "always left insecure about the size of his nose."

However, he went on to spent thousands of pounds on other cosmetic procedures, including a chin implant and crowns on his teeth, to achieve "the perfect look."

While he said he does not regret the procedures, he does regret the reasons behind them.

He said: "I'm happy with what I've had done. I don't regret any of the procedures I've had. The only thing that I do regret is the reasons why I had them done.

"I wish I had booked the procedures for my body, for my mind. At the time, I booked it because I thought that's what you were meant to look like."

Dale added: "When you scroll through Instagram, you can get sucked in by a fake reality."

"I'm not going to say don't get surgery, but do it for the right reasons.

"If possible, try to get to the root of any issue or problem or any insecurities in yourself before you let a surgeon work on you."

He explained that the social media pressures that men feel to get cosmetic procedures is not as openly talked about.

Dale said: "I feel like you only hear about women feeling the pressures of social media, but men feel like that as well.

"You think these people have been carved by angels and think 'why don't I look like that?'"