Brooklinn Khoury was a rising star in the world of skateboarding and modeling when her life was forever changed after she was attacked by a dog during a visit to her cousin’s home in Arizona.
“I was in the kitchen with the dog, who I had met plenty of times,” she recalled. “I turned to look at my cousin, and when I turned back, he sprang off the ground and latched onto my upper lip.”
That was in 2020, and Khoury was on the cusp of a promising career. She had a growing following on social media and a clothing company wanted her to model its skateboarding apparel.
But the devastating attack put all that on hold. The savage bite completely severed her upper lip. Despite several surgeries, she felt a growing sense of hopelessness as doctors told her there was little they could do to fully restore her face.
“I went a whole year looking for a doctor who could help me,” Khoury said. “I was losing hope. Doctors told me, ‘Your life will never be the same.’”
But her mother, Melissa Demenagos, refused to give up. She researched potential surgeons and found Nicholas Do, MD, a plastic surgeon at UCLA Health with extensive expertise in microsurgery and craniofacial reconstruction.
“He was the first physician to ask me how I was doing — not just about my physical injury, but also about my mental and emotional well-being,” Khoury recalled. That moment marked the beginning of a new chapter in her recovery.
Dr. Do quickly recognized the complexity of Khoury’s injury and the challenges it posed.
“With an injury like Brook’s, a lot of time has to be spent reverse-engineering the injury, because no two injuries are the same,” Dr. Do explained. “You have to know the anatomy of the face down to the millimeter. What contour should it have? What changes in light and shadow? How wide should her nose be, and how do we make sure she can breathe properly?”
Dr. Do performed five complex surgeries over 14 months to reconstruct Khoury’s face and restore both appearance and function. To create a new upper lip, he took skin from her wrist.
While each surgery presented its own unique challenge, Dr. Do focused on the holistic result. “One of the challenges of complex facial reconstruction is that modern medicine is very specialized,” he noted. “If I had just focused on one aspect, like microsurgery, I wouldn’t be thinking enough about the aesthetics of the lips, the anatomy of the nose or the tissue needed to rebuild the nasal floor. It was better to focus on the face as a whole and adapt during each of the surgeries.”
Khoury’s final surgery was in February 2023. Throughout, her determination and support system helped her persevere.
After her first surgery, her father, Ephrem Khoury, offered crucial words of wisdom that helped to carry her forward. “He said, ‘You can let this affect you, or you can take it one day at a time and live your life.’ I chose the latter,” Khoury said.
Her growing online community also gave her strength during her recovery. As she shared her journey on social media, her following grew from 20,000 to more than 1 million. Her transparency, sharing images of herself before and after each surgery, resonated with people around the world.
“One of the most powerful things I taught myself was to love myself throughout this journey,” Khoury reflected. “Even when it was hard to look in the mirror, I had to embrace what I saw.”
Today, Khoury continues to advocate for self-love and resilience, using her platform to inspire others going through similar experiences. Reflecting on her journey, Khoury said she is grateful not only for the medical care she received, but also for the personal growth she experienced along the way.
“It wasn’t just about rebuilding my face,” she said. “It was about rebuilding my life.”
