Princess Eugenie's Wedding Dress Shows Her Scars from Scoliosis Surgery

Princess Eugenie made a powerful decision to show her scars from scoliosis surgery in her wedding day look.

The bride's custom Peter Piloto dress featured a low portrait neckline, which dipped low in the back, showing a scar that stretches from the top of her neck to her shoulder blades. She also wore her hair in an updo so the mark wasn't covered at all.

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Eugenie’s scar is visible in her wedding dress.

The exposed back was a conscious design choice requested by the bride, who underwent corrective surgery for scoliosis when she was 12. She also teased the exposed back feature in an interview with British network ITV ahead of her nuptials.

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"[It's] a lovely way to honor the people who looked after me and a way of standing up for young people who also go through this," Eugenie said of the design choice. "I think you can change the way beauty is, and you can show people your scars and I think it's really special to stand up for that."

Eugenie was treated by the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RHOH) in 2002. She previously opened up about her life-changing procedure for the hospital's website:

"During my operation, which took eight hours, my surgeons inserted eight-inch titanium rods into each side of my spine and one-and-a-half inch screws at the top of my neck. After three days in intensive care, I spent a week on a ward and six days in a wheelchair, but I was walking again after that."

The princess went on to be a patron of the hospital's Redevelopment Appeal and have one of its facilities named after her. She's also a royal patron of European School of Osteopathy.

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Erica Gonzales is the Senior Culture Editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage on TV, movies, music, books, and more. She was previously an editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com. There is a 75 percent chance she's listening to Lorde right now. 

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