I scored a ‘free’ nose job — then got the shock of my life that came with a $26K pricetag

A TikTok influencer is sharing her horror story from her botched “free” nose job that led to a much more expensive — and completely avoidable — cosmetic disaster.

Isabelle Lux, 33, always struggled to breathe properly due to a deviated septum. 

So, in 2014, when she was 21, she underwent a procedure with the hope of fixing her breathing issues. 

Lux’s septoplasty was solely meant to fix an internal issue, with no visible changes necessary to the structure of her nose.

She said she had no real issue with the appearance of her nose before the surgery, but learned that she could request some cosmetic changes once she was under the knife, so she decided to go for it.

“People were like, ‘Oh, you can get a free nose job,’” Lux told People of her procedure that was covered by insurance. “It never really occurred to me. I actually always liked my nose.”

But it seemed like a good opportunity for some touch-ups then, so she asked the surgeon to make her nose “a little bit cuter.”

“We didn’t talk at all about aesthetics. I told them before, I was like, ‘Make it cute,’” Lux said of her discussion with her medical team.

At first, the results seemed fine — Lux could breathe better, and her nose appeared unchanged.

But within a year, her happiness turned to horror when she noticed that one side of her nose had completely collapsed.

“It was one of those things that I didn’t really notice changing because it was so gradual,” she explained. “Until one day I looked underneath and it was completely closed on one side.”

“I was shocked. It looked to me like a Voldemort nose,” Lux added. “I was like, ‘This cannot be. I have to go see a good surgeon.’”

Panicked, Lux sought out a new, skilled surgeon who could repair the damage caused by the initial procedure.

The fix came with a hefty price tag — $26,000 for a rhinoplasty that would restore the shape and function of her nose.

But by the time she underwent the corrective surgery, Lux’s nose had lost the appearance she once loved, leaving her with the unavoidable consequence of her botched procedure.