But I didn't like to go out unless I had to. I'd do things like cut my own hair so I didn't have to look at myself in a mirror."
He says a pivotal moment came when his friend became the manager of a bar and offered him a job.
"It was something I really wanted to do - at 19 or 20 working in a bar is the norm - I thought why shouldn't I do it?
"I'd be dripping with sweat before every shift, I was so nervous and scared about people's reactions. Drunk people can be so horrible, so obvious.
"It wasn't easy, but at the same time I met so many nice people who were genuinely interested in me and my face."
It gave him enough confidence to start dating - "rather than spend evenings at clubs hiding in the toilets" - and even get a job in a gym.
"I'd done a diploma in sports science at college and a fitness instructors course but it is such an image-based industry - gyms are full of mirrors - I used to e-mail people asking for jobs rather than drop my CV off.
"Then one day I went in to a Fitness First gym and met my boss Shaun. We had a chat, I gave him a workout and we really hit it off."
Jono says being thrown in at the deep end boosted his confidence levels.
Which worked out better than he imagined, because it was at the gym that he met his long-term girlfriend, 20-year-old Laura Richardson.
"I was testing her resting heart rate and it was beating over a hundred beats a minute, so I thought she must have liked me!
"She says when she first met me, she noticed my face, but now she no longer sees it. It was the first time I was able to be completely myself with a girl.