Skater Brooklinn Khoury's recovery after losing lip in horrifying pit bull attack

Brooklinn Khoury continues to persevere from an incident in 2020 that she never saw coming.

Pro skateboarder Brooklinn Khoury has given fans another glimpse of what her mauled face looked like in the aftermath of a grisly pitbull attack that changed her life forever. 

The 23-year-old professional skater posted an image of her post-attack condition to Instagram in response to questions from fans asking if she had any photos from the day she was mauled. 

Photo by Instagram @brookhoury

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"A lot of you have been asking, 'What was the first thing that went through your head when you were attacked?” Brooklinn posted to Instagram alongside several images of her face. 

Photo by Instagram @brookhoury

“To be honest I was scared and worried about looking so different in a society that strives for perfection," Khoury added in one of the deepest messages about her journey back to good health since she first began talking openly about what happened to her.

Photo by Instagram @brookhoury

If you haven’t been following along with Brooklinn’s journey then you might not know that in 2020 she was attacked by a dog while visiting her cousin in Arizona according to People Magazine, and the resulting trauma left her face horribly disfigured. 

Photo by Instagram @brookhoury

Brooklinn was outside with her cousins by their pool when the family dog, an 8-year-old pit bull named Diesel, snapped and attacked the pro skateboarder when she leaned in to pet him according to People Magazine. 

Photo by Instagram @brookhoury

"I was like, 'You're such a good boy.' He literally sprung from a sitting position like onto my face," Brooklinn explained to People in a December 2021 interview about the incident. 

Photo by Instagram @brookhoury

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Brooklinn revealed the experience in terrifying detail and talked about how at one point, Diesel had bitten onto her lip and was hanging from her face while she was trying to process what was happening. 

Photo by Instagram @brookhoury

“My first instinct was like, 'Oh my God, get on the ground with him, hold his head, go wherever he goes.' Finally, I felt a release. And then, something flew and hit the wall,” Brooklinn told People in 2021. 

Photo credit: Instagram @brookhoury

The next thing she remembers was seeing her blood according to People and then being rushed to the emergency room where doctors were unfortunately unable to reattach her upper lip, leaving her with a substantial injury to her face. 

Photo credit: Instagram @brookhoury

"The first time seeing my face after the surgery was scary," the skateboarder explained to People. "But I was like, 'Okay, time to love this new version of myself for now.'"

Photo credit: Instagram @brookhoury

As part of Brooklinn’s process of healing, she decided to fully embrace what happened to her and began regularly posting on social media about her journey and how she was dealing with both the emotional and physical pain of her attack. 

Photo credit: Instagram @brookhoury

On the one-year anniversary of her attack, Brooklinn reflected on everything she had been through over the previous 365 days and how the journey through this unpredictable tragedy changed her life for the better. 

Photo credit: Instagram @brookhoury

"This attack has taught me to truly love myself inside and out regardless of what people have to say," Brooklinn wrote in an Instagram post. "It has shown me how precious life is. I will never take that for granted."

Photo credit: Instagram @brookhoury

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Just days after Brooklinn’s heartfelt post about her previous year, she announced to the public in a YouTube video that she had found a doctor who was confident that he could reconstruct her face. 

Photo credit: Instagram @brookhoury

On December 17th, 2021, Brooklinn had her first surgery and it went well. She shared a video of her appearance on YouTube of the immediate aftermath of the surgery, explaining that she wasn’t going to hide the process and hoped to help others going through the same thing. 

Photo credit Instagram @brookhoury

In March 2022, Brooklinn had her second surgery and told fans beforehand in a YouTube video that she was scared it was going to alter the appearance of her face. Luckily, in a follow-up video, she said she was “super happy with the results.”

Photo credit: Instagram @brookhoury

April 2022 saw Brooklinn's third surgery which she said would involve thinning out the skin of her new lip as well as a rhinoplasty to rebuild the tip of her nosing using a large piece of her septum according to People.

Photo credit: Instagram @brookhoury

Brooklinn underwent her fourth surgery in September 2022 for lip reconstruction and in February 2023 she had what she thought would be her final surgery planned to rebuild her cupid’s bow. 

Photo credit: Instagram @brookhoury

In March 2023 Brooklinn's doctors cleared her to return to sports according to a TikTok video update, and she got on her board quickly, letting her fans know that her journey was almost over.

In April 2023, Brooklinn said during a TikTok update that her doctor wanted to perform one last surgery to make a few final corrections to her lip reconstruction. "If you look at my upper lip from straight on, it slants a little bit. That's because the pitbull took more from this side than this," the skater said in a TikTok video update.

Khoury journey affected her in more ways than one. She told UCLA Health's website in October 2024 that this process wasn't just about rebuilding her face; it was about rebuilding her life.

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Khoury's determination to keep moving forward has encouraged others to do the same in the light of similar events. CBS News touched on the impact Khoury had on Paige Towers, who had her body attacked by a dog in December 2023. Towers told CBS News that she constantly checked Khoury's Instagram page for motivation and support.