After modifying his face for seven long years, 26-year-old Russian Jenya Bolotov has finally fulfilled his life’s ambition of becoming a human platypus. He has managed to stretch eight parts of his face by a total of nine inches – including his ear lobes, nostrils, septum and his top and bottom lip.

“I love platypus – the way they look and even the word ‘platypus’ itself,” he explained. “I like the way my stretched face and lips now look like a platypus bill.” Jenya added that all the modifications now make him feel whole, and this is what he’s always wanted to be like.

He further revealed that he used to be very quiet as a child and didn’t fit in with the people around him. In order to feel genuinely happy, he knew that he had to change himself and live differently. And when he came to know about body modifications at the age of 10, he was instantly intrigued.

“When I saw body piercings for the first time on the internet, I became very interested,” he said. “As I got older, I started learning about ear lobe stretching which was still very rare. I loved the way it looked – the way you could stretch your body to become who you want to be. It’s such a beautiful art.”

So when he turned 18, Jenya decided to stretch his earlobes himself. He did make a lot of mistakes because he didn’t know how to do it, but for him it was only the beginning of a journey. Soon, he came across images of lip stretching in African countries and went for that as well.

“Although I thought they were too small – I wanted my lip holes bigger. I wanted to take this ancient art to the next level. Then my friend said that if anyone could achieve a truly big horizontal lip, they would look like a platypus. I wanted to be like that. I love the large bill of a platypus.”

At age 19, Jenya started the slow and painful process of stretching his lips. And while he was at it, he decided to have a go at his nostrils and septum as well, to complete the elongated effect. Now, seven years later, his bottom lip has stretched 58mm and his top lip 38mm. But he’s far from done; he plans to continue elongating his features for the rest of his life.

“There is no limit,” he said. “It has taken me years to get to where I am and now I feel like I finally belong in this world. Externally, I am now a platypus. My resemblance is the way I want it to be. Inside though, I am more like a bird. They’re my spirit animal and they come to me in my dreams.”

None of these modifications have affected Jenya’s ability to eat, talk and speak normally. He does get a few haters now and then when he walks down the street, but he says he’s used to it and mostly ignores them. He’s more excited about his growing fan base who regularly send him mails of appreciation.

“I get a lot of fan mail from people telling me they’re grateful for what I do and how I look,” he said. “Some individuals have written to me, saying they wish they were able to change their body the way I have. Not everyone is free like me – they have an internal battle inside them that makes them feel like they can’t become who they want to be. It takes bravery to do what I’ve done and I will keep modifying my body until I am happy.”

Sources: Metro.co.uk, Daily Mail