A woman who was fat-shamed by cruel bullies for having "tree trunk legs" has spent £20,000 on surgery -after realising she had the same condition as a Love Island star. <br /> <br />Emma Martin, 23, said her legs had always been chunky and out of proportion to the rest of her body no matter what she ate or how much she exercised.<br /><br />The trainee solicitor claims she was even told by her GP to "just lose weight" and "stop eating crisps and cake" when she tried to raise her concerns.<br /><br />It wasn't until she heard Love Island contestant Shaughna Phillips talking about Lipoedema that she realised her condition might be medical.<br /><br />People with Lipoedema see a painful build-up of fat and connective tissue in their legs, hips, bottom and sometimes arms and is not the same as obesity, the NHS say.<br /><br />But with surgery not available on the NHS, Emma has been left to fork out £20,000 of her savings to get the same procedure Shaughna had in Spain.<br /><br />Emma has since had 10kg (1.5 stone) of fat drained from her legs at the clinic in Madrid that specialises in Lipoedema, giving her a new lease of life.<br /><br />Emma, first noticed the condition- which left her sensitive skin prone to bruising - while she was a teenager where she was picked on for the size of her legs. <br /><br />Emma, of Droitwich Spa, Worcs., said: "I totally didn’t realise that it wouldn’t be anything other than me being fat until last year. <br /><br />“People always talk about the weight going to their stomach, I just thought my weight went to my legs. <br /><br />"I used to get a few comments at school, people were like why are your legs bigger than mine and I got called tree trunk legs.<br /><br />"I was so upset about it to my mum after school and asking her 'why have I got much bigger legs than my friends?'<br /><br />"At 17, the doctor told me to stop eating crisps, cake and chocolate. I was still quite small and 9 stone but they said I should just eat better. <br /><br />"It made me feel like it was my fault, I just thought I was always bigger.<br /><br />“I had a personal trainer after I left school. I got an awful lot smaller but my legs remained larger. I'd find basic exercises really tiring or get out of breath really quick. <br /><br />"I've never watched Love Island, but I saw Shaughna Phillips' tweet about her legs and they looked like mine. <br /><br />"And that's when I went down a rabbit hole of research."<br /><br />Following a lot of self research online and private consultations, Emma was finally diagnosed with Lipoedema last year at 22-years-old.<br /><br />It affects both men and women but is more commonly found in women, with over 11 per cent of the population suffering with the condition in some form.<br /><br />Since then, she had has flown to Madrid twice to receive preventive surgery and she plans to go for further surgery to remove the excess fat and tissue in June.<br /><br />She has splashed out over £14,000 and will undergo another two procedures costing £4,500 each after being left to feel the NHS didn't recognise her condition.
