A make-up artist has told how she urinates through her navel due to a life-saving operation she was forced to undergo following a devastating car accident.
Steph Aiello, from Glendora in California, was due to begin training as an esthetician in October 2010.
But just a day before it began, she was involved in a serious accident that killed one of her closest friends and left her paralyzed.
Not only did he lose control and function of his bladder, but the accident also limited his ability to use his hands.
A “brutal” procedure years later, which diverted the bladder towards her navel, allowed her to regain some control of her body.
Steph Aiello, from Glendora in California, was due to start cosmetology school in October 2010. But heartbreakingly, just one day before starting she was involved in an accident that also killed one of her closest friends.
Losing all control and function of his bladder, the accident also limited his ability to use his hands. However, years later, a “brutal” procedure that diverted her bladder toward her navel allowed her to regain control of her body.
Now, in a video seen by more than 260,000 Aiello Instagram users followers, the quadriplegic beauty influencer has shared how she uses the bathroom in a bid to help overcome the stigma faced by disabled people around the world.
And fans on social media responded in awe and praised Aiello for bringing attention to the condition.
One wrote: ‘As a nurse working in home care, I thought I had seen it all, but I had never heard of this! Thanks for sharing.’
Another added: ‘I had no idea that was happening to be honest. Thanks for the education.’
A third, meanwhile, said: “Thank you for being so brave to show us that.” Thank you for educating us.’
In the video, he talked about the intriguing sign that tells you that you need to use the bathroom.
“My eyes start to get a little watery,” he said, adding that this precedes the symptoms of an immune system reaction called autonomic dysreflexia.
Autonomic dysreflexia is an abnormal overreaction of the nervous system to stimulation.
It involves a number of symptoms including sweating and a rapid heart rate, and causes blood pressure to rise rapidly.
For those with spinal cord injury, it is commonly triggered when the bladder is full and needs to be emptied.
Holding a long, cylindrical, compact blue catheter, known as a SpeediCath, Ms Aiello added: “I can be anywhere I want doing this.”
“When I put it in my belly button, it will actually reach my bladder.”
Pushing the catheter into your belly button allows you to urinate.
Once finished, he sticks his thumb into a “little loop” on the catheter bag, helping her “pull it out slowly.”
“Then I will take the (catheter) cap in my hands, put it back (on the catheter tube) and push with my palm.”
“Now I can throw it in the bathroom,” he added.
‘For anyone thinking about having this surgery, it is extremely brutal. It is a brutal surgery.
“Recovery is really hard, but if I had to do it over again every year, I would do it.”
Before her life-changing surgery, she received biannual Botox injections, often used as a cosmetic procedure to reduce wrinkles, into her bladder.
They are designed to relax the muscles of the organ, allowing it to retain more water.
The NHS also recommends a similar procedure where Botox is injected into the rear sphincter muscle for both adults and children with chronic anal fissures that have not healed within eight weeks, despite treatment.
It works by blocking certain muscle receptors, allowing the tissues to relax and facilitating the healing of the fissure.
Before her life-changing surgery, she received biannual injections of Botox (often used as a cosmetic procedure to reduce wrinkles) into her bladder.
But Mitrofanoff’s surgery offered Aiello a permanent solution.
The procedure creates a channel from the appendix or small intestine, which connects the bladder to the surface of the skin.
This allows a catheter to be inserted to empty it of urine.
Ms Aiello added: “In my case, my appendix was large enough that they didn’t need to use my intestines, but if your appendix is much smaller, they will proceed to use some of your intestines.”
‘I occasionally take some type of bladder spasm medication, to prevent my bladder from spasming and leaking.
‘Autonomous dysreflexia is something that scared me a lot while I was in hospital and as an inpatient.
‘But over the years, I have learned to work with it and use it to my advantage.
‘I can always feel when my autonomic dysreflexia appears.
‘So, I’ll check my bladder, I’ll check my pants, my shoes, I’ll try to find where the source is coming from.
“I actually enjoy the fact that I have autonomic dysreflexia because it’s my body telling me something is wrong before something really bad happens.”