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Olympian shocks fans with alarming video after legs 'turn to Play-Doh'

Olympian shocks fans with alarming video after legs 'turn to Play-Doh'

Olympic athlete Lawrence Okoye and his followers were horrified when he discovered his legs had turned to 'playdough'.

Fans expressed their concern for Olympic athlete Lawrence Okoye after he discovered his legs had turned to 'Play-Doh'.

The 31-year-old track and field athlete, who holds the British record in discus, posted a video to TikTok to show people what had happened to his legs.

Pressing his thumb into his shin six times, each print seemed to make a deep, circular dent on his leg. "It looks like I'm made out of playdough," the Croydon native told followers.

A few weeks later, after being inundated with messages about his strange symptom, Lawrence shared an update.

"Basically, it's this thing called cellulitis," he explained.

"I had a leg injury a few days ago and the wound got infected with bacteria, which causes redness, swelling, and that pitted edema that you saw, which was me basically making craters in my leg."

If not treated quickly, cellulitis can be serious and even life-threatening, but it appears Lawrence caught his symptoms in time.

He said: "It's easily treatable, just a weeks' worth of antibiotics and some rest and I should be back to normal.

"A ton of people were trying to tell me I had heart disease or liver disease, kidney disease, cancer, diabetes, blah, blah, blah ... Obviously that’s not the case.

“I had an infection called cellulitis. It’s basically bacteria that gets into your system when you have an open wound. As you can see I have these scars here from when I smashed my leg a couple of weeks ago.

“Those crazy holes that were in my leg no longer exist so I’m pretty much back to normal.”

Image credit: TikTok/fullheartedpush
Image credit: TikTok/fullheartedpush

When cellulitis isn't treated in time, the infection can spread to the nervous system, bones and blood, and cause serious complications.

Untreated cellulitis can lead to silent killers like sepsis or toxic shock syndrome. Basically, the infection occurs when bacteria gets into broken skin, either because of a cut, an insect bite, or dry, cracked skin.

The NHS say people are more likely to contract cellulitis if they have poor circulation, a weakened immune system, have a wound from surgery, have lymphoedema, or inject drugs.

Typical symptoms of cellulitis can include swollen, painful glands, blisters and hot, swollen skin.

If the infection is serious, other symptoms can include a high temperature, a fast heartbeat, purple patches on the skin, confusion or dizziness, cold, clammy skin, or loss of consciousness.

If you have cellulitis with any of those symptoms, it's recommended that you contact emergency services or visit A&E right away.

Most people tend to make a full recovery in 7 to 10 days.

Featured Image Credit: TikTok/@fullheartedpush

Topics: Athletics, Olympics