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The case of Lauren Wasser should be a warning to all young women who wear tampons during their period. The popular American model suffered toxic shock syndrome (TTS) thanks to the tampon and barely survived. She lost both legs as a result of gangrene. Golden dentures are now her trademark. There she is successful as a model, plays sports and educates. She tries to remind the world that beauty has many names.
- Lauren Wasser started her modeling career as a child
- At 24, Laureen came close to dying from Toxic Shock Syndrome, and gangrene caused her to lose her legs
- Highly absorbent tampons are responsible for most cases of TTS in women
- Currently, Lauren is a modeling star with golden dentures
- You can find more such stories on the TvoiLokony home page
Happy life of Lauren
Lauren Wasser is from San Diego. Her parents were models. Mom gave birth to her at the age of 21 and raised her alone. The father, addicted to drugs, did not participate in the life of the family. Lauren caught the fashion bug very early on, accompanying her mother on trips to Paris, London and New York. Even as a child, she appeared on the cover of the Italian Vogue.
As she grew older, modeling and basketball were her whole life. She changed high heels for sports shoes and combined styles. She had a wide circle of friends, did what she loved and earned a lot of money from it, which allowed her to live comfortably in New York.
Everything changed in one day
Wasser was going to a party with friends, and because she was having her period, she put on a tampon. After a while, she felt as if she was catching the flu. She came home and went to bed. She had a fever of 40 degrees and was losing consciousness all the time. She was only home with her dog, which, feeling something was wrong, was jumping around her, trying to wake her up.
A few days later, the police found her lying face down. Ambulance took Lauren from the hospital. There, the doctors diagnosed kidney failure and two heart attacks. It was 2012, a 24-year-old American model had just touched death. The use of a tampon caused toxic shock syndrome (TSS). It is an acute, life-threatening poisoning caused by a toxin produced by Staphylococcus aureus. Doctors put her in a medical coma and estimated the chances of survival at one percent.
– A week and a half later I woke up completely confused. I didn’t know what was happening to me. They pumped me up with fluids, I felt monstrously fat – recalls Lauren Wasser. – My feet were on fire, gangrene was already rolling my right leg and left foot. There was no option, the doctors had to amputate my right leg below the knee.
Depression and suicidal thoughts developed
– I sat in a wheelchair for eight months. They shaved my head. I was stripped of my identity. I had to rebuild – she confessed. – I tried to commit suicide because I knew that I would not be who I was anymore. I never thought anyone would ever love me. Will he look at me.
Despite her depression, she was slowly starting to get straight. She got a prosthesis for young and active people, met people who use it and lead a perfectly normal life. However, in 2018, Lauren also had her left leg amputated. He now wears golden prostheses – plays basketball and trains marathon runs. She claims she is happy.
The culprit was a tampon
America first heard about TSS in the late 100s, when a lot of young women died because of it. In the twentieth century, TSS affected approx. Six out of XNUMX thousand. people.
Scientists quickly realized that chemically containing high-absorbency tampons were responsible for most cases. In 1980, the CDA reported that 91 percent. cases of toxic shock syndrome were associated with menstruation. A few years later, consumer organizations began to pressure the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to recall Tampax’s line of high-absorbency tampons. Of course they met resistance.
Eventually, some regulations were introduced in the feminine hygiene industry, and the number of cases dropped to one in 100.
However, still the average American woman consumes 16. tampons. Every year, women there spend over $ 2 billion on menstrual hygiene products, but they still don’t know enough about the dangers of using tampons.
Tampons contain highly toxic dioxin in trace amounts – yet the FDA has failed to monitor the levels of dioxin in the tampons.
A brief history of the tampon
American consumer activists argue that scientists are not eager to research, because everything related to menstruation somehow stigmatizes, so it does not contribute to the development of their careers.
It was not until the 90s that Sharra Vostral began researching the history of menstruation, and thus the history of feminine hygiene products. They resulted in two books.
Thanks to the reading, we will learn, among other things, that the tampon was invented by Earle Cleveland Haas, a Colorado doctor whose wife, a ballerina, could not dance wearing bulky sanitary napkins. Haas obtained a patent for its cotton tampon technology in 1933. Later, Procter & Gamble began mass production of modern tampons. Until the mid-70s, tampons were made entirely of cotton. In 1975, a highly absorbent tampon made of harmful plastics – carboxymethyl cellulose and polyester – appeared. The product’s entry into the US market was accompanied by the slogan: “It absorbs even worries!”
“The product was exceptional,” said Dr. Philip Tierno, director of microbiology and immunology at New York University Langone Medical Center. “But there were unimaginable problems because no one was researching. Nobody has looked at the effect of a tampon on the vaginal vault, where countless bacteria reside.
Super absorbent tampons flooded the market, but most of them contained synthetic chemicals. Producers did not care about homeostasis and the pH level of the vagina. One of the ingredients of the tampons was rayon (viscose).
However, the biological complexity and risk factors associated with TSS do not allow it to be easily combined with tampons, adds Dr Tierno.
What is the relationship of tampons to TTS?
This relationship is really complicated. Staphylococcus occurs in approx. 20 percent. women, and synthetic chemicals can create conditions under which it can produce the TSST-1 toxin. This toxin enters the bloodstream and causes toxic shock syndrome. Thus, a woman’s exposure to TSS risk from tampons is caused by a number of factors – including the type of menstrual care product and the length of time it is used, the presence of staphylococcus in a woman’s microbiome, and whether she has enough antibodies to fight staphylococcal infection.
To avoid TSS, it is recommended to use 100% pads or tampons. cotton. Also, do not apply a tampon overnight. The maximum time between tampon changes is eight hours. Dr Tierno warns that highly absorbent tampons can turn the vaginal roof into a ‘toxin factory’. An antibody test is now also available to determine if a woman is resistant to the bacteria that cause TSS.
Dr. Philip Tierno: “I’d say there has been more research done into the safety of coffee filters than women’s hygiene products.”
Lauren fulfills despite dentures
Lauren Wasser went back to working in modeling. She is the face of Shiseido and has also appeared in the Missoni and Fenty x Savage campaigns. Adversities do not overwhelm her. She is an optimist struggling to change our perceptions of beauty, although the experience of fighting TSS is still firmly in her head.
When asked if she sometimes feels embarrassed by intrusive glances, she replies: no, I love it. Children always stare at me and point their fingers at me. And I tell them I’m a robot. And then I hear: Mom, I want a golden leg! Such an experience teaches that people aren’t really different.
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- Each of us experiences something so terrible at least once in our life. Trauma: destroys us or builds us anew?
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