FROM SOCIALS.
An Australian tiktoker got into trouble at the airport because his passport photo no longer matched his new look.
After several surgical retouches to improve his physical appearance, the old document photo had become outdated and the metal detector machine could not recognise him, jeopardising his trip to Japan.
Despite the mishap, the tiktoker found a way to joke about it on social media, however, sparking debate between purists who see retouching as a distortion of our natural appearance and fans of cosmetic surgery as a right to feel good about oneself.
A young Australian tiktoker had an experience that sparked much debate on social media. The 29-year-old reported that he was stopped by border officials at Sydney Airport because the photo on his passport did not match his actual appearance.
The reason for the detention was soon explained. Over the past few years, the young man had undergone various surgeries to improve his appearance, but the old passport photo dates back to when he was 22 years old and was not updated with the retouches performed by the surgeon.
The young tiktoker recounted on the social network that he was stuck for more than an hour in Sydney airport, waiting for his journey to Tokyo, being interrogated by officials who were not convinced of his identity. The facial recognition machine did not recognise him and the situation was very stressful for him.
Tomi Grainger, this is the young man's name, describes himself as 'Australia's craziest drag queen'. The story has also sparked debate about cosmetic surgery. Some see it as a form of personal liberation and others as alienation from one's true physical appearance.
Fortunately, the situation was positively resolved when the young man explained to the officials about his history of surgery and was allowed to continue his journey to Tokyo. However, the misadventure was widely reported on social media. 'I think it's time to change my passport,' Tomi Grainger finally said.