P.For nearly five years she lived as a recluse, away from the spotlight and glossy covers. But now Linda Evangelista, 56-year-old Canadian supermodel of Italian origin, is back to talk about her story: in an interview with the magazine People he told of the pain, the physical one but also the emotional one, which he had to endure in the last few years after that a CoolSculpting surgery (a procedure for cryolipolysis to remove adipose tissue) left her “brutally disfigured” and “permanently deformed”.
Linda Evangelista and the intervention that disfigured her
The model, who in September filed a lawsuit against the company that owns the patent of the procedure, asking for $ 50 million in damages and claiming that she was no longer able to work after the CoolSculpting sessions she underwent between 2015 and 2016, he told that in the past “I really liked to walk the catwalk”. Now, however, “I’m afraid of running into someone I know.” However, he told in tears to People“NoI can no longer live like this, hiding and being ashamed. I just couldn’t live with this pain anymore. I’m finally ready to talk. “
From swelling to numbness
Linda Evangelista with a shell bra by Azzedine Alaia. Vogue 1990 (Getty Images)
Showing the disfigured body to the magazine, the former supermodel explained what happened after the beauty treatment. After three months, he recalled, he began to notice rswelling on the chin, thighs and bra: Those same areas he had wanted to reduce were suddenly growing and becoming harder. Then came numbness. “I tried to fix it on my own, thinking I did something wrong,” explained Evangelista, who then began a diet and exercise sessions. “I got to the point where I didn’t eat anymore, and I thought I was losing my mind.”
The diagnosis of PHA
Finally, in June 2016 the model returned to the doctor. «I dropped the dressing gown in front of her – she recalls in the interview – I was crying and I asked him:“ I haven’t eaten, I’m starving. What am I doing wrong? ”». At that point you have been diagnosed with PAH, paradoxical adipose hyperplasia (PAH), a rare side effect of the CoolSculpting procedure which occurs in about 1% of patients. And that causes a stiffening and expansion of the adipose tissue rather than a reduction. And the affected areas become less sensitive to liposuction, so the problem becomes permanent.
The model has in fact told a People of having underwent two other liposuction surgeries (one in June 2016 and one in July 2017) to remedy the damage, but despite having been forced to wear “compression garments, girdles and chin straps for eight weeks”PAH has continually returned to manifest itself.
I no longer recognize myself physically
«The swellings – he explained – are hard, and if I walk without a sheath when I wear a dress, they cause continuous rubbing and irritation that almost reach the point of bleeding. Because it’s not like rubbing soft fat: it’s hard fat ». And for this reason his posture has also changed: «I can no longer rest my arms on my sides. I don’t think designers will ever want to dress me again. I don’t look in the mirror anymore, it’s not me anymore “. At the end of the interview, Linda Evangelista explains why “we feel the need to do these things to our bodies”. And she says she “I always knew that I would grow old. And I know there are changes a body goes through. But I didn’t think I would be like this “. Instead now “I no longer recognize myself physically, but I no longer recognize myself as a person. She (i.e. the supermodel Linda Evangelista, ed) has almost completely disappeared “. But telling his story and her trauma, she argues, can be helpful in comforting others who are in the same situation.
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