Recently retired skier Lindsey Vonn underwent knee surgery and showed off the graphic photos on Instagram to prove it.
Vonn, 34, spent Monday in a hospital to repair her torn LCL (lateral collateral ligament) in her right leg. She suffered the injury in November, but waited until after her final professional season was over to have surgery, PEOPLE reports.
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On Tuesday, Vonn shared a gallery of photos from the hospital, including one taken while doctors worked on her open leg. She told fans to not swipe through the photos if “you don’t like the sight of blood.”
“Obviously skiing with a brace this season didn’t go as well as I had hoped,” Vonn wrote. “I was waiting to have surgery because I had obligations, such as my fundraiser for my foundation and I didn’t want to let anyone down. So yesterday was a great day for surgery.”
Vonn revealed that, because she put off the surgery, the damage was worse than she thought.
“I had an additional meniscus tear and needed chondroplasty of my knee cap,” she explained. “Thank you to Dr. LaPrade and the staff at the Steadman clinic for taking such good care of me as always. Medical terms of what I had done – Lcl reconstruction, Lateral meniscectomy, chondroplasty and peroneal nerve neurolysis. Call me Dr. Vonn.”
Vonn retired in February after the World Championships in Are, Sweden. In an emotional Feb. 1 Instagram post, Vonn said her body is “broken beyond repair and it isn’t letting me have the final season I dreamed of. My body is screaming at me to STOP and it’s time for me to listen.”
Later in the post, Vonn told her fans to not lose hope in following their dreams.
“I always say, ‘Never give up!’ So to all the the kids out there, to my fans who have sent me messages of encouragement to keep going… I need to tell you that I’m not giving up! I’m just starting a new chapter,” Vonn wrote. “Don’t lose faith in your dreams, keep fighting for what you love, and if you always give everything you have you’ll be happy no matter what the outcome.”
Vonn made her debut with the U.S. Ski Team in 2000 and won a Downhill gold medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. She also won a bronze in Super-G in Vancouver and a bronze in downhill at the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang.
“It’s hard,” Vonn told the Today Show in February. “It’s been my whole life since I was 2½ and I hope that I’ve done something in my career that’s more meaningful than 82 wins. I hope that the mountains remember me. I definitely know that the fences will.”
Vonn also said she hoped to have children with her boyfriend, hockey star P.K. Subban, in the future.
“I can’t wait to go skiing with my kids one day,” she said. “We have to plan it out, but I mean I’m 34, so we’re thinking about it.”
Photo credit: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
