The model who lost her leg to toxic shock syndrome has had surgery to amputate the other.
Lauren Wasser, 29, lost her left leg last week after having the right amputated in 2012 when she contracted the life-threatening infection toxic shock syndrome (TSS) from using a super-plus tampon while on her period.
The Los Angeles-based model revealed last month that she would ‘inevitably’ lose her left leg because she was in ‘daily excruciating pain’ as a result of the TSS.
‘Life is about to be so different, again! I’m in great spirits though and ready for my next chapter,’ Wasser said in an Instagram post.
The double below-the-knee amputee will continue to advocate about the potential risks associated with tampons as she gets accustomed to her new prosthetic.
Model Lauren Wasser (right)had her second leg amputated last week and was visited by Paralympian Amy Purdy (left), who is also a double amputee


Wasser, 29, had her right leg and toes from her left foot amputated in 2012 after she nearly died from toxic shock syndrome from a tampon

Last month the Los-Angeles based model revealed that her remaining left leg will ‘inevitably’ need to be amputated because the bones continued to grow where her toes used to be
Since last week’s surgery, Wasser has had visitors including Paralympian Amy Purdy, who is also a double amputee.
Wasser’s body had produced calcium which caused the bones on her remaining foot to grow as her brain’s way of telling the missing toes to grow back.
‘My left foot has an open ulcer, no heel, and no toes,’ she wrote last month in an op-ED featured in InStyle. ‘I’m in daily excruciating pain.’
She has needed surgery to shave down the bone because it became too unbearable to walk.
Wasser also could not wet her foot due to the open ulcer – something that is difficult for the California-born model.
‘In a few months, I’m inevitably going to have my other leg amputated. There’s nothing I can do about it. But what I can do is help make sure that this doesn’t happen to others,’ she said.
The model is now an advocate by pushing legislation urging the National Institutes of Health to help test feminine hygiene products to determine they are safe.
Wasser is advocating for a bill called the Robin Danielson Act, named after a woman who died from TSS in 1998, which directs the National Institutes of Health to do research on the potential health risks of feminine hygiene products.
The bill has been introduced 10 times and has never come to a vote before the full House of Representatives.
She has spoken publicly about her condition and given a TED Talk to share her story.


Wasser is pictured in the hospital where she had a 107 degree fever, suffered a massive heart attack and gangrene consumed her feet leading to her leg and toe amputation

She is pictured days before her surgery and said: ‘I’m in great spirits though and ready for my next chapter’


The model has become an advocate to raise awareness about the dangers of tampons and proudly sports a golden prosthetic leg
The model was 24 when she fell ill after using a tampon.
She was found in her apartment 10 minutes from death, face down, unconscious on her bedroom floor covered in feces and vomit, after her mother called police for a wellness check when she had not heard from her for a while.
While in the hospital her fever reached 107 degrees, she suffered a heart attack and her organs began to fail before she was put into a medically induced coma.
An infectious disease doctor ordered to check if Wasser had a tampon in and after a test was done, she was diagnosed with TSS.
However, the damage was done to her legs from gangrene and doctors needed to amputate. She now uses gold prosthetic leg.
Toxic shock syndrome is a rare and life threatening bacterial infection.
It is commonly misdiagnosed because the symptoms resemble other more common illnesses.
The infection occurs when usually harmless Staphylococcus aureus or Streptococcus bacteria, which live on the skin, invade the bloodstream and produce dangerous toxins.
Symptoms include a high fever, low blood pressure, vomiting, confusion and seizures.
It most commonly occurs in women using tampons.
Tampon boxes come with a warning of the deadly infection after leaving it in for more than eight hours, though Wasser said she changed them regularly.
Each year toxic shock syndrome affects about one in 100,000 women.
The disease made headlines in the late 1970s and early 1980s after the deaths of several young women who were using a brand of super-absorbent tampon that was later removed from the market.
However, TSS has not impeded Wasser’s modeling career.
She has landed jobs modeling Nordstrom’s holiday shoe collection and Kenneth Cole’s Courageous Class campaign.