This boy dreamed of becoming a platypus - here's how he looks after 7 years of transformations

January 17, 2019 | by Ksenia Novikova

This young man must have heard his parents tell him that he could be anything he wanted to be very often, because he has made extreme changes to his appearance to become his favorite animal.

Jenya Bolotov, 27, has spent his young adulthood wanting to become a platypus. Over the years, he's undergone a number of changes to his facial features in order to do so, and in 2017 he shared updates on his new look.

The Russian admitted that he had been a quiet child, and knew from a young age that he was different to his classmates and friends.

He confessed that he felt as if he didn't belong in this world, feeling almost as though he was watching the world from the outside. It was then that he decided to make whatever changes he needed to in order to feel happy.

The aspiring graphic designer wanted to change his physical appearance on the outside to match how he felt on the inside. He explained that it was what he "always wanted to be"

Bolotov explained: “Externally, I am now a platypus. Inside though, I'm more like a bird. They’re my spirit animal and they come to me in my dreams. I love platypus - the way they look and even the word 'platypus' itself. I like the way my stretched face and lips now look like a platypus bill.”

Bolotov started altering his appearance when he was just 19. He’s spent a total of 8 years going through this transformation.

He has had eight different parts of his face stretched: his ear lobes, nostrils, septum, and lips are extended by more than nine-and-a-half inches in total.

He’s the first and only person in the world to have the very top bridge of his nose, the surna, stretched. He said that the modifications he has done have made him feel whole.

Bolotov loves his new "bill," and said his life had not changed much since his transformation. He has stated that he still completes normal, routine activities like eating and talking without any challenges.

But as expected, he does attract a lot of negative attention when walking down the street, and "sometimes people make mean comments."

Bolotov has said that he’s used to the stares and the comments by now and just chooses to ignore them. He currently doesn’t have a girlfriend but he is hopeful that one day he’ll meet someone who’ll love him just as he is.