Reclusive star Amanda Bynes nearly unrecognisable after having surgery

A former child star has returned to social media and shown off a dramatic new look after undergoing rare cosmetic surgery.

Reclusive ex-actress Amanda Bynes has returned to the spotlight this week and revealed that she’s undergone cosmetic surgery.

Bynes, who has faced a series of struggles over the last few years, has been back in control of her own life after a judge terminated her almost decade-long conservatorship last March.

The former child star, now 37, shared an Instagram Story on Monday and revealed that she had undergone blepharoplasty — a procedure to remove excess eyelid skin.

Amanda Bynes showing off her new look.

Bynes with the co-host of her new podcast and their first guest, the tattoo artist Dahlia Moth.

Bynes two decades ago in What A Girl Wants.

In the clip, the formerly brunette star also showed off a platinum blonde head of hair, and dyed blue eyebrows.

“I was never open about this before, but I actually had blepharoplasty surgery on the skin folds in the corner of my eyes. So I don’t have those skin folds anymore,” Bynes said.

“It was one of the best things I could’ve ever done for my self-confidence, and it made me feel a lot better in my skin, so I just wanted to post about that, just to clear up that rumor as to why I have a new look.

Amanda Bynes showing off her new look.

“I feel a lot better now about myself, and I’m so glad I had the blepharoplasty surgery. It was one of the greatest things I could’ve ever done.”

In a follow-up video she hit out at paparazzi pictures of herself, claiming they make her look bad compared to real life, or on social media.

“I usually don’t look good in paparazzi pictures and that’s because paparazzi pictures are taken outside,” she explained.

“The sunlight is usually really harsh and bright on my skin.”

She continued: “Even though I’m only 37 and I don’t even look old … the harsh lighting can create shadows on my face like it cast shadows in different areas and I look terrible.”

Bynes at the Teen Choice Awards in 2009. Picture: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

And at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2009. Picture: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images/AFP

Bynes, left, with co-star Kelly Preston in the 2003 film What A Girl Wants.

And a year earlier in Big Fat Liar, alongside Frankie Muntz.

Upon the termination of her conservatorship in March of last year, Bynes released a statement saying she had spent several years “working hard to improve my health”, expressing her desire to “live and work independently”.

“I will continue to prioritise my well-being in this next chapter,” she said.

Earlier this year, Bynes was found roaming the streets of Los Angeles naked before being placed on her first of multiple psychiatric holds.

At the time, her ex-fiancé Paul Michael claimed she had stopped taking her medication before the episode.

She was placed on a second psychiatric hold in June, before checking herself into an “intensive inpatient mental health treatment centre” in July.

Bynes has been focusing on her recovery, and recently returned to social media to reveal that she was teaming up with a pal, whom she met in treatment recently, for a new podcast.

The first episode of the Amanda Bynes & Paul Sieminski podcast, which released on December 9, featured an interview with tattoo artist Dahlia Moth. It marked her first on-camera gig since she starred in the 2010 comedy Easy A.

“At first we are going to interview our friends, and then we’re hoping to take it mainstream and interview celebrities and artists,” she said of the podcast project when first announcing it back in November.