Friday, March 6, 2009



Be careful what you wish for...

Aimee Moore, anorexia

Aimee Moore (before anorexia and bulimia)

Aimee Moore, anorexia

Aimee Moore (after)


legs, anorexic model

anorexia, legs of 77-year-old-woman

"77-year-old lady with anorexia admitted to hospital. ..Due to her poor general medical health with cardiac and renal failure, no invasive investigations were performed... Removal of the leg ulcer dressings revealed this pigmented "wound" affecting the left lower leg"


Keira Knightly, anorexia

Keira Knightley

anorexic older woman



hand, 46-year-old anorexic woman

Hand of an anorexic 46-year-old woman


Tara Reid, anorexia

Tara Reid

anorexic, anorexia, Italian countess

Italian Countess (no, this is not Donatella Versace)


girl in a bikini

anorexic older woman, bikini

anorexic older woman, bikini


Samantha Kendall, before anorexia
Samantha Kendall (before anorexia and bulimia)

Samantha Kendall, anorexia

Samantha Kendall, Rest in Peace


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Anonymous said...

reminds me of some photos I saw on very skinny anorexic chicks, skinny is the new black unfortunetly

Nikki said...

Okay, so some of those pictures up there are really...disturbing in a way.
But why the picture of Keira Knightley? She's the most gorgeous girl ever...definitely not anorexic!

amyyyyyyy said...

Thats awful that some people feel the need to look like that.

Veraswami said...

That was a photo of Keira Knightly years ago, before she was way too thin. She was cute back then, and it's sad how she is now.

Anonymous said...

WHAT?! You mean anorexics can live to be 70! WTF i dont wanna live that long! Everyone heres telling me that im gonna die by 25, what the fucks up with this 72 year old anorexic woman o.0

Anonymous said...

I'm middle aged. I can see anorexia is no beauty tonic for older people from your pictures. Any middle ager wanting to do this to promote "youth" should see this site.

shagaa said...

i'm pro ana, but many of those womans were way too skinny!

A Nurse said...

I'm not here to bash your attempts at making thinspiration more realistic, but I think you should reconsider the picture of the 72 year old with a leg ulcer - it's highly unlikely she has anorexia nervosa, more likely she has anorexia (the medical term) secondary to another condition, like cancer. Leaving that picture makes the impact of the other pictures, of women with anorexia nervosa, less powerful.

Medusa said... make a valid point; however, it comes down to what came first...the chicken or the egg.

Here's the link:

Anonymous said...

like many girls, i have an eating disorder- anorexia and bulimia. i have been freaking out because i have been gaining weight. i am 5'4'' tall, large boned, 17yrs old, and currently weigh 102-104 pounds. i chew and spit all the time- 1000s of calories a day. i was looking on the computer for tips to get thin again, but after seeing these photos, i think i just got some inspiration to recover. i never want to look like some of these people, they aren't just skinny, they are scary- nightmare scary. omg, i never want to look that scary.

Medusa said...


Thanks for much for commenting.

Your chewing and spitting worries me. It can be deadly. Please read this post...

Wishing you every success in recovering from your EDs...


Anonymous said...

I have a friend who has ED. She looked at a pro ana website, and despite the fact she says she's not going on it every again, I'm not sure. Some of those women are beautiful. But the old people ones disgust me. We'd both love to be as skinny as the woman in the first picture.
I don't really understand this site. Is this 'thinspiration' or trying to turn us off pro ana?

Medusa said...

Anonymous, this is NOT a pro ana site. In fact, it is the opposite.

The pictures in this post are "before" and "after" (i.e. be careful what you wish may be young and "ana" now but the older pictures are what you will look like if you continue starving yourself).

Please check out some of my other posts about dangers of EDs and pro ana.

~ Medusa

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for these pictures. I have troubles with eating as in I don't or I just throw it up. These pictures were just a fantastically shocking, hard-hitting reality of what I am doing to myself. I'm not saying you've cured me, because I don't know where I am at the moment, but I just wanted to let you know that you'd made a difference.

issy said...

I think the really skinny pics are awful but think british size 4-6 is beautiful and will continue starving myself until i get there, altho i'm not far off it but having 3 children does not help your me. any tips to stop me being hungry???

Anonymous said...

to start of with i reali need my own place so i havnt got my parents fucking things up for me telling me what i should eat i am such a fat bitch an im thinking of buying some fat burning pills, i have struggled with anorexia for years of my life an hospital has made me big 7 stone exact on a tube was no fun! i try to have less then 600 calories a day, im being discharged on the 9th of march so maybe i can lose some of the weight then, theres the stupid arguments here again all about food! ! help??

Anonymous said...

This is really funny that you think that this is what happens to anyone with an eating disorder that takes it seriously.
Although it CAN get that serious, the pictures above (most of them doctored) are of the worst of the extreme cases, not the general ana/mia/ednos population.
Fucking Idiots.

Medusa said...

Whatever, Anonymous.

I find it odd that you find "this" funny.

And speaking of idiots: not one of those pics is photoshopped.

Have a nice life.

Isabel said...

This is absolutely shocking! Everything about this page is crazy! And honestly, yes the pictures are quite astonishing, but what I think is mindblowing are some the comments made on here. I really do hope these pictures make a difference. Sadly, I have seen a girl go from gorgeous to scary squeletical and it is an unbelievable sight.

Anonymous said...

this is a bit of a confusing website it really needs to be established more on if its pro ana or not.
ive been surfing the net all evening on tips to get thin and to curve my hunger pangs and really those pictures didnt do much to scare me off loosing the weight as its not wat the majority of people with ana or mia look like. i wish these pictures would work but sadly i doubt they will for so many girls.
does anyone else see the problem with the fact a girl who is currently in hospital been treated for an eating disorder can access this site??? wtf like its wrong!!!

another nurse said...

The point is that, no you may not look like the extreme/shocking pictures RIGHT NOW, but once the disease is "turned on," it is very difficult to turn it off. You are probably saying to yourself, "When I get skinny enough, I will stop." But there is a big problem with that idea.

Someone who embarks on this path develops an altered mind-set where you keep adjusting your expectations downward. Your brain is reconditioned so that you never do see yourself as "too skinny" or even "skinny enough." Eventually, you DO end up like these poor women.

That model who had a heart attack after stepping off the runway probably had an electrolyte imbalance (caused by a sodium or potassium deficiency)which caused the heart to malfunction.

Anonymous said...

fay said,,,,,,
i really want to be slim again.....when i was 16, i was really slim, i weighed 104 pounds but right now am 18 en i weight 130 pounds but i really wanna get back to ma former weight....though, i dont want to be like that 72yr old weight kinda drops sometimes that when i dont eat for a week.. i mean i can lose abt 12pounds but still i respond to food so much in that even if i eat food just the size of a spoon in a day, by the end of the week i see another 2pounds gained..i need help...i dont like being fat..

Anonymous said...

This is not okay...

Faith said...

I know as anyone that the big thing people need to focus on is the mental state that drives us to the point of starvation. But I was just thinking. Seeming as this has turned into quite the pro-recovery sight, maybe you could post some blogs on healthy diets/meal plans that will help us lose weight healthily should we feel that we are too big?
I do understand the triggering effect this may have. But it can't be more then all the pictures you've put up.
Just a thought anyways.
Much love xx

Anonymous said...

I know it is crazy, but I envy their bones. So clean...

Anonymous said...

well some of those pitures make me sick

Anonymous said...

i guess its just depends on how you veiw things

REASON said...

if you're that fucking serious about anorexia then take a trip to Africa where you'll love it. no-one will shout at you for not eating, becos there isn't any fucking food. then the children who starve to death INVOLUNTARILY can eat the food you THROW UP and the aids victims can receive the hospital treatment you have the AUDACITY to take FOR GRANTED.
you can moderate this comment but its the fucking truth. look at your mum's face..
its not just you you're hurting.
how fucking selfish.

Anonymous said...

REASON... Really??!! Do you honestly think anyone pro ana/mia is going respond positively to that comment? You don't understand do you? And your so small minded that you just think you can come on here swearing and telling people who are suffering from a MENTAL DISORDER that they're selfish!! Not really being helpful at all is it? Do your homework first before you come onto sites like these leaving negative and abusive comments!!

Medusa.. I think this site is fantastic, and thank you for putting it on here for us :) x

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, you're a fuckig moron!!! REASON wasn't insulting people with REAL eating disorders. They're insulting you idiots who take it up as a lifestyle in order to lose weight. Pro Ana & Mia aren't those who actually have anorexia or bulimia. Idiot.

Anonymous said...

You are comparing beautiful young skinny women to ugly old skinny women.
So they grew old ugly, because they did not take good care of themselves, because they were anorectic or bulimic. These photos are in the same tradition as how you will look-photos if you smoke, or take drugs, or drink, or eat too much, or whatever other sin to your body&health you might want to commit.
Sure, I sopport the idea that people should live and eat healthily.
However I feel that this page is a threat: I you don't eat healthily you will grow UGLY and LOOK OLD, and this threat is so effective because being ugly and looking old apparently re some of the worst sin a woman can commit.
People are all "ewwwwwww gross!!" and think these women are disgusting, worthless, because their bodies are ugly.
So, yes, you do "fight anorexia" by showing these pics, since they are very threatening, but you also reinforce society values that it's a woman's duty to be beautiul and the notion that a woman's worth is linked to her beauty by using "IT'LL MAKE YOU GROSS AND UGLY" as your main argument.
Oh, and that being old is bad, too, I guess.

Medusa said...

Anonymous, your conclusions are so skewed...AND incorrect.

Anonymous said...

I know this is a really old post...but Keira looks absolutely healthy here. I bet she was also healthy when everyone was calling her anorexic. She just happens to have a small upper body, no matter her weight overall.