For her wedding, Princess Eugenie purposefully selected a wedding dress with a low-cut back for her marriage to Jack Brooksbank insisted on wearing a dress that showed a scar left over from childhood surgery-rather than concealing it.
Her affirmation is that-“you can change the way beauty is” has proved inspirational to many.
Readers Told Us How Proud They Are Of Their Scars:
“My dress had a deep back”
Christine told us: “I’m really happy the word is getting out there and that there are people in those positions to be advocates for this.”
Like the princess, she had major surgery on her back to treat scoliosis, a condition that causes the spine to bend to one side.
“Celebrities are showing off the fact that they’re not bothered by their scoliosis, it helps those younger people who might be struggling with it,” says Christine, who preferred not to give her surname.
The Queen’s granddaughter, who had her surgery to treat a curvature of the spine at the age of 12, said she was wearing this particular dress as a way of “standing up for young people who also go through this.”
Christine Also Showed Off Her Scar At Her Recent Wedding
But she remembers how it felt as a teenager. When diagnosed with scoliosis at 14, she was operated on five times between the ages of 15 and 17 years.
“Felt Like The End Of The World”
I love that #PrincessEugenie is proudly showing off her scar from scoliosis surgery in her wedding dress. She is patron for The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital Appeal. pic.twitter.com/ydi1rLIFH4
— Blake Nadilo (@BlakeNadilo) October 12, 2018
“It was pretty scary because I did not even know what it was or anyone else who had the disease.” I went through puberty and many changes.
“Your friends go through the expected milestones and you have to catch up later, it felt like the end of the world … but it worked perfectly.”
Christine missed 11th grade and had to repeat some GCSEs at school. But she was grateful for the support of her friends.
“One day I wore a full body plaster from my chin to my hip, and school friends came to sign it.”
She still suffers from back pain, but says Yoga and Pilates help.
“I Love My Scars”
Very powerful moment! Princess Eugenie is taking pride in her #scoliosis scar and helping change the perception of what is beautiful. That dress shows it off so well! Bravo Princess Eugenie and @PeterPilotto 👏 pic.twitter.com/Z6IwEUhg1r
— Martha Hunt (@MarthaHunt) October 12, 2018
For Simon Howson Baggott, 35, his scars are reminiscent of a turning point in his life.
He does not like to look back to his schooldays after wearing a plastic orthosis at the age of 12 after being diagnosed with kyphosis.
“It was a big plastic ugly thing right around the body,” he says. “I’ve come up with all sorts of excuses to try not to wear it.”
While scoliosis bends the spine to one side, Simon describes kyphosis as “traditional hunchbacks.”
He had to wait until he stopped operating at the age of 18. But two weeks in hospital and six months of recovery interrupted his education and he left college without A-levels.
Now he has a good job looking after corporate clients for a social media company, but he says, “It was a real fight.”
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Surgery left Simon, of Fareham, Hampshire, with a 38cm (15in) scar on his back and another 15cm (6in) measurement along his hip.
“It was awful at first, but after about three weeks it was not so painful, and then you feel awesome.
“I love the scars, I used to tell girls it’s a shark.”
He even bought a huge zip tattoo – £ 550 “because it’s so big”. But if it’s painful on the wallet, at least his muted nerve endings mean he does not suffer from the needle, he jokes.
“I’ve seen some really cool on the internet,” he says. “But it’s different for people.
“It was really cool that Eugenie made it his mission to emphasize her, and for young kids like me, it has to be said that it’s no big deal.
“Maybe such advice would have helped me.”
“I was angry once … now I am authorized”
Journalist Lauren Davidson was furious with her scar.
At the age of 18, after experiencing “deep pain” in her stomach and examining her symptoms, she became worried that she had an ovarian cyst.
A doctor told her that she was fine. After feeling ill for half a year, she suffered a five-day attack of food poisoning.
“I had pain all over my body, it was awful,” she says. Her doctor took a blood test and after she found she was anemic, she took her to an ambulance.
“They had to cut me open and see what was going on,” says Lauren, 24, from Grimsby. “I had two blood transfusions.”
Finally, They Confirmed The Presence Of A Cyst.
“If the cyst had been found earlier, I could have done a key operation and it took a while to get used to this scar.”
Since then, the scar has become part of her identity.
“Now I feel strengthened by my scar,” she says. “I do not hide it, it shows that I’ve overcome something.
“I’d rather walk around with a scar than I’m not here, I loved seeing Eugenie walking around with her scar.”
“Real Princesses Have Scars”
Mel Pollard, 35, wept in tears when she saw Princess Eugenie proudly showing her scarred back.
Mel’s daughter Connie had a scar on her lower back after having a spinal cord defect at the age of 14 months.
The surgery was designed to prevent her daughter from having problems with walking, bladder or bowels. And while Connie, now five, has no problem with the scar, Mel is still worried.
“When She’s Older, She Can Become Aware Of It,” She Says.
Eugenie and the hospital shared the princess’ story of the 2002 operation.
“During my operation, which took eight hours, my surgeons inserted eight-inch titanium rods into each side of my spine and one-and-a-half inch screws at the top of my neck,” Eugenie said. “After three days in intensive care, I spent a week on a ward and six days in a wheelchair, but I was walking again after that.”
Source: BBC News, Archyworldys, Globalnews
