Woman With Rare Skin Condition Poses For Pictures To Raise Awareness

She is not a regular model! But that doesn't stop her from posing with elan. Sara Geurts, a 26-year-old woman with a rare skin disease that makes her look years older than her age, was refused by many when she first tried to make a career in modelling. She was challenged at every step as the industry found her excessively saggy skin not up to the beauty standards. However, Sara is not bothered about what people say or think but is embracing her beauty instead.

❤ #inmyskiniwin #effyourbeautystandards #mybeautymyway #ehlersdanlosawareness #loveyourbody #loveyourlines pic.twitter.com/N0PUKj0NfD

— Sara Geurts (@sarageurts) July 13, 2016

She is all set to break into the modelling industry.

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Hailing from Minneapolis, Minnesota, the aspiring model is battling a genetic condition called the Dermatosparaxis Ehlers-Danlos syndrome that affects 'every system in the body'. This rare disease makes a person's skin extremely soft and doughy. Because of the condition, her joints and muscles are also weak. It also causes pain in the bones and joints, resulting in discomfort. One in 5,000 people around the globe suffers from the severe condition.

Sara told Daily Mail, “The classical type of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome affects our joints, it affects our skin, everything. It’s a multi-systematic disorder, so it affects every system within our body.” She added, “Thankfully, I have not had that severity with my joints. I do have severe pain and things like that, but they do not dislocate on a regular basis as of yet.”

Sara is determined to carve out a niche for herself in the fashion industry despite all the turbulences that come her way.

Yes, she has been body shamed. But did that make Sara give up on her dreams? Never! She posed for a photographer friend and instagrammed her pictures and they are making waves online.

“I have noticed as I get older, my discrepancies and my pain to my symptoms play a larger role in my life. I refrain from wearing super tight clothes because the more I do wear, it causes constriction and because of the extra skin, it can rip and cause tearing,” Sara said.

Sara looks decades old, but her positivity is infectious. Growing up with this immense pain wasn’t easy for her. But if one is ambitious, one can fight any evil. Now in order to deaden the pain, she tries acupuncture, massage therapy, and medical marijuana. She turned her imperfections into an inspiration and taught us how simple and celebratory life could be.

She said: “I noticed it as early as about the age of seven and I mentioned it to my parents. It wasn’t till I was 10 that they brought in a dermatologist, because I started getting severe acne and sores on the top of my hairline. They did a series of tests, including like touching my tongue to my nose. I had to touch my hands to the ground, just bend over type of thing. They had me run through these series of tests and then they told my family and they were pretty confident that they diagnosed me with Ehlers-Danlos.”

When not posing for photos, Sara raises awareness about the disorder, aiming to educate people about it and letting them decide the definition of 'perfect'. She says that the actual abnormality in society is to shame others. We should all be accepting of every body type and not feel ashamed of things that we don’t understand.

READ: Creating Awareness to Save The Girl Child, Dr Harshinder Kaur

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