Reid Ewing from Modern Family reveals he has body dysmorphic disorder

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Reid Ewing, 27, became obsessed with altering his appearance
Star of hit comedy Modern Family had repeated cosmetic surgeries
Started having procedures at the age of 19 to help ease his insecurity
They were all disastrous and failed to produce the result he wanted
Realized he was suffering from a psychological disorder and sought help
Has now stopped undergoing plastic surgery and wants to raise awareness of body dysmorphia

Published: 00:15 EST, 20 November 2015 | Updated: 12:50 EST, 20 November 2015

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Modern Family's Reid Ewing has revealed he suffers from body dysmorphia that led him to undergo repeated cosmetic procedures to obtain the perfect face.

The actor most known for his recurring role as Dylan on the ABC sitcom revealed on The Huffington Post on Thursday that he became obsessed with plastic surgery in 2008 when he was 19 and newly arrived in Hollywood.

'I genuinely believed if I had one procedure I would suddenly look like Brad Pitt,' he wrote.

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Changing face: Reid Ewing has revealed that he has undergone repeated cosmetic surgeries including cheek implants and a chin implant in his quest for perfection. The actor is pictured left in 2009 shortly after he began undergoing surgery and right in 2012

Regrets: The actor, 27, pictured this year, found fame as Dylan on ABC's Modern Family. He now says he wishes he could undo all the cosmetic work he's had done

Instead, what he got was one botched surgery after another, he said, from doctors who seemed to care little about the reasons behind his desire to alter his appearance.

'I told the doctor why I felt my face needed cosmetic surgery and told him I was an actor. He agreed that for my career it would be necessary to get cosmetic surgery,' wrote Ewing in a confessional piece for the Huffington Post.

'He quickly determined that large cheek implants would address the issues I had with my face, and a few weeks later I was on the operating table.

Ewing said he now regrets all the surgeries he had and would go back and undo them if he could.

'I woke up screaming my head off from pain, with tears streaming down my face,' wrote Ewing.

'The doctor kept telling me to calm down, but I couldn't. I couldn't do anything but scream, while he and his staff tried seemingly to hold back their laughter.'

The 27-year-old is keen to publicize what he now considers to be the risks of submitting oneself to the surgeon's knife such as addiction to powerful painkillers, the cycle of having additional surgery to correct mistakes made the first time around and unsatisfactory outcomes.

Ewing, pictured in 2010, (left and right) arrived in Hollywood in 2009 and decided he needed to change the way he looked. 'I genuinely believed if I had one procedure I would suddenly look like Brad Pitt,' he said

The actor also wants to make people aware that body dysmorphic disorder is a mental illness and that unscrupulous medical practitioners, in his view, take advantage of people like himself.

'Of the four doctors who worked on me, not one had mental health screenings in place for their patients, except for asking if I had a history of depression, which I said I did, and that was that,' he wrote on the blog.

'My history with eating disorders and the cases of obsessive compulsive disorder in my family never came up,' he added. 'None of the doctors suggested I consult a psychologist for what was clearly a psychological issue rather than a cosmetic one or warn me about the potential for addiction.'

Found fame: The actor was cast as Dylan in ABC's Modern Family in 2009, the year after he arrive din Hollywood seeking fame and fortune. He's pictured with Sarah Hyland in season one of the sitcom

Ewing's first procedure was cheek implants and he woke up afterwards 'screaming in pain,' he recalled.

He had to wear a face mask for two weeks post-surgery and hid himself away in a hotel room outside of Los Angeles taking hydrocodone painkillers.

Once the swelling finally subsided, the results, he wrote, were 'horrendous.'

'I stayed in complete isolation. When I went out, people on the street would stare at me, and when I visited my parents they thought I had contracted some illness,' he said.

Then followed a chin implant and an operation to fix the chin implant.

'I rushed back to the surgeon, and acknowledging he had made a mistake, he operated on me again,' wrote Ewing.

'After the surgery, he waited with me while the anesthesia wore off so I could drive home. We had a heart-to-heart conversation, and he shared that it had been difficult to keep his practice open with the two lawsuits he was currently fighting.'

Then more procedures paid for with his acting money or with help from his parents and grandmother and then 'injectable fillers and fat transfers.'

'Much of this was going on during the same time period I was shooting Modern Family,' he said.

'Most of the times I was on camera were when I'd had the numerous implants removed and was experimenting with less-noticeable changes to my face.

'None of them last very long or are worth the money.'

Spent a fortune: Ewing revealed he used his acting money to pay for plastic surgery and when he needed more, he tapped his parents and grandmother for the funds. He's seen here in February 2012 (left) after he stopped going under the knife and in 2013 (right) after he felt comfortable being seen out in public again

The never-ending cycle robbed him, he said, of his 'self-esteem and joy.'

In 2012, Ewing finally stopped although it took a further six months, he recounted, before he was comfortable with people looking at him.

'I think people often choose cosmetic surgery in order to be accepted, but it usually leaves them feeling even more like an outsider,' he offered up by way of a lesson learned.

'Before seeking to change your face, you should question whether it is your mind that needs fixing,' he wrote.

'Of the four doctors who worked on me, not one had mental health screenings in place for their patients, except for asking if I had a history of depression, which I said I did, and that was that.

'My history with eating disorders and the cases of obsessive compulsive disorder in my family never came up.

'None of the doctors suggested I consult a psychologist for what was clearly a psychological issue rather than a cosmetic one or warn me about the potential for addiction.

'Now I can see that I was fine to begin with and didn't need the surgeries after all.'

Weaned off: By 2013, he'd decided to stop having surgeries and forgo the injectable fillers and fat transfers he'd been having to alter his features. He's seen here in March of that year