This Woman Has a 70-Inch Butt and It’s Totally Real
Move over, Kim Kardashian.
Instagram sensation Raylynn has been using her various social media accounts to emphasize her most bountiful asset. The Atlanta-based blogger — who defines herself as a “strong supporter of body positivity” — regularly posts images of her 70-inch bottom to her more than 128,000 followers.
Understandably, this camera-loving lady had been getting a bum rap from numerous onlookers since they assumed her behind was designed by digital manipulation. So a few weeks ago, Raylynn produced a short YouTube video where she paraded around (in what appears to be) her living room in tight black leggings and a cropped white tank in order to prove that her rear is the real deal. To date, the video has received 133,000 views.
As it turns out, she was reportedly diagnosed with lymphedema, a condition that causes swelling in the body due to a buildup of lymph fluid, which contains infection-fighting white blood cells.
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“The lymphatic drainage system can be inefficient or damaged for several reasons,” Jonathan H. Whiteson, MD, medical director of cardiac rehabilitation at Rusk Rehabilitation at NYU Langone Medical Center, tells Yahoo Style.
This chronic condition is divided into major types: primary and secondary. Whiteson explains that there is no known cause for primary lymphedema, which usually affects an arm or leg and can present itself at birth or soon after, but which can also develop in adolescence, young adulthood, or later in life.
“Secondary lymphedema is due to an identifiable insult to the lymphatic system,” he continues. On a global scale, the most common cause for this abnormality derives from a mosquito-borne infection, yet most patients from the U.S. have this condition as a side effect from surgery, such as lymph-node resection in the management of cancer, including breast, sarcoma, and ovarian.
“Cancers themselves may invade lymph vessels and lymph nodes and cause lymphedema even without surgery,” explains Whiteson. “Radiation therapy in the treatment of cancers can also damage lymphatic vessels and lymph nodes. Also, a local skin infection — cellulitis — can worsen lymphedema and is more common in lymphedematous extremities.”
Typical signs include redness, swelling, stiffness, tenderness, drainage, and heat, anywhere in the body. While there is no cure for this condition, certain techniques can manage it. Although patients were advised against working out in the past, “exercise has now been recognized as very important in the prevention and early management of lymphedema,” says Whiteson.
Physical therapy can offer “the best chances” of full improvement in swelling. “This includes specialized massage, limb wrapping techniques, compression garments, and an education program from a lymphedema-trained and -certified therapist,” adds Whiteson. “There is an accreditation process, so patients must ask who is trained to treat them and who is not.”
No ifs, ands, or butts.
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