Laura Dundovic has revealed she has blood tests every month after discovering she has hemochromatosis, a genetic condition where the body absorbs too much iron from food.
The 36-year-old model and former Miss Universe Australia winner undergoes the treatment every few months to get rid of excess iron.
To better manage her, she has recently been undergoing monthly bloodlettings, during which 500 ml of blood is drained from her body.
“I’ve had it since I was 16, I store too much iron. It builds up in your organs and your body goes into iron overload,” she said The Daily Telegraph.
Dundovic, who also starred in I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!, said she was relieved to finally have her health under control after years of battling the disorder.
“I’m finally starting to understand my body and I’ve been feeling really good these past few months,” she said.
“It’s been two years of confusion and then a year of work, because it takes a while to find what’s wrong. For two years it was just symptoms that no one can really group together, but in the last year there’s been real progress.”
Laura Dundovic has revealed she has her blood taken every month after discovering she has haemochromatosis – a genetic disorder where the body absorbs too much iron from the person’s diet
Dundovic has previously spoken about her ongoing health issues, saying in December that 2023 was “the worst year of my life.”
‘Earlier this year I had a fall in Bali and it took me eight weeks to heal the injury, then it healed and I broke my toe,’ she told the Sunday Telegraph.
Dundovic, who also had a car accident when her car was hit by a bus, was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s, an autoimmune disease that can affect the thyroid gland.
The model and former Miss Universe Australia winner, 36, undergoes the procedure every few months to get rid of excess iron
Hashimoto’s disease, also known as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, is an autoimmune disease. This disease usually causes low thyroid hormone levels in the body.
Dundovic rose to fame when she was crowned Miss Universe Australia in 2008, finishing in the top ten of the international competition.
She has also built a successful career as a model and actress, having made her acting debut in Home and Away at the age of 15.