Mystery Swells: Teen’s Head Balloon-Like After Breaking Bizarre No-Sex Rule—Doctors Baffled!

Ever wonder what happens when you throw caution—and common sense—out the window on vacation? Meet Ruben Owen, a 24-year-old social media influencer who learned the hard way that sometimes ignoring post-surgery warnings can literally blow up in your face. After getting a sleek new hairline in Turkey, Ruben was firmly told to steer clear of anything that might make him sweat—yes, that includes sunbathing, workouts, and, ahem, intimacy. Did he listen? Nope. The next morning, his face puffed up like a balloon, leaving him googling STI symptoms in a panic. Talk about a holiday tale turned cautionary comedy! If you’ve ever wondered whether a little fun could come with swelling side effects, Ruben’s story might just be the answer. LEARN MORE.

A social media influencer was left feeling like a buffoon after his face swelled like a balloon following a bad decision on holiday.

We’ve all done some silly things while abroad, with one mum from the UK still stuck in Turkey after celebrating her boyfriend’s new teeth a little too wildly and smashing up a hotel room.

Whether it is hair or teeth, Turkey has become the go-to for many influencers or average joes seeking a new look, and 24-year-old Ruben Owen opted to follow in the footsteps of many people online by heading to Europe for a new hairline.

However, after he was warned not to engage in high intensity activities that would lead to sweating, such as sunbathing, exercise or sex, the bloody legend decided to go ahead and have sex anyway.

Unfortunately, or fortunately I suppose if you were Ruben’s lucky partner, it seems as if the sex he had was high intensity as when he woke up the next morning, the left side of his head had ballooned.

He said: “I wake up and my head’s blown up like a balloon – Face puffed, scalp tight, and it looked like I’d been stung by 100 bees.

“No joke, I thought I’d caught something. I was actually googling STI symptoms and panicking.

Ruben’s swelled head (SWNS)

“Turns out it was just my own fault for going too hard too soon – definitely learned my lesson the weird way.

“The left hand side was bigger than anything to the point it didn’t even look like I had been punched – it genuinely looked like my face was going to explode.”

At least the 24-year-old isn’t alone in looking like Megamind shortly after a hair transplant, with those who suffer fortunately able to laugh about it after the side effects subside not long after the procedure.

He revealed that he headed to Turkey in 2022 when he was just 22 for the procedure, and managed to get a good deal by offering to model for the clinic afterwards, although they may have opted against using any of Ruben’s post-sex snaps, given the size of his head.

He said: “I was doing some modelling work for their social media so I got the deal for a really good price.

“It all went OK they went through the after care things of what you are not meant to do.

“I didn’t quite listen about the sex part and because of that my face just went quite enormous.”

Ruben thought he had an STI (SWNS)

Fortunately his head did return to its normal size but it taught Ruben a valuable lesson (SWNS)

His normal head size only came back one week after the surgery.

Ruben said: “I was told there was nothing to worry about too much and that it should go down which it did eventually because I was going to go to A&E.

“I looked like something out of a film – it was something else.”

The social media influencer said to have learnt the lesson ‘the hard way’ but it is now motive for a laugh with his friends.

He said: “It is one of those stories that still gets brought up, and to me it is too good not to share.

“This is one of them things that I look back on now and it was really stupid I hadn’t listened but it was really funny.”