Jamie Lopez opened a salon for plus-sized women after a chair collapsed underneath her weight while she was getting her hair cut.She was inspired to open the Babydoll Beauty Couture in Las Vegas following her humiliating experience. The 31-year-old’s salon features styling chairs that hold weights of up to 800 pounds and provides a welcoming environment for pampering plus-sized women

Levi Krystosek, 11, has a rare form of dwarfism called Jansen metaphysical chondrodysplasia, which affects the growth of bones and causes considerable pain, meaning he is only 38 inches tall.There are only about 30 known cases of JMC in the world, and five genetically confirmed cases in the US

This beauty queen has had cutting-edge surgery to allow her to use her ankle as her knee after having part of her leg amputated.

Jillian Williams, 20, from Odem in Texas, was a contestant in the glamorous world of Miss Teen USA beauty pageants and a talented college volleyball player. But her world came crashing down in February last year when she was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma – a rare type of bone cancer.

To minimise the possibility of relapse, she opted for a ‘rotationplasty’, a procedure which required surgeons to remove the middle portion of her leg. The foot, ankle and shin were then rotated 180 degrees and reattached to her upper leg to act as her knee joint – which slips into a prosthetic lower leg.  Jillian is now hopeful for the future and dreams of being the first amputee Miss Texas and representing the American national team in Paralympic volleyball

Left: Former basketball Olympic medalist Ekaterina Lisina has a new target in her sights – being named the world’s tallest model.

Standing at 6ft 9in in bare feet, Ekaterina, from Penza in Russia, has already been named the tallest woman in Russia. After retiring from basketball, the leggy beauty launched a career in modeling and now believes she is the world’s tallest model. Right: At the age of 17, Isaiah Griffin, now 23, from Wichita in Kansas, noticed his first keloid on his leg – a benign growth caused when the body over heals itself.

The condition gave Isaiah extremely low self-esteem, to the point where he couldn’t bear to look at his own reflection in the mirror, but bodybuilding helped him regain his confidence. He won third place in his very first competition and has his sights set on becoming a bodybuilding champion

Pixee Fox and Rodrigo Alves recently joined forces to spend over £20,000 of cosmetic procedures each in a five-day body blitz.The pals met up in Istanbul, Turkey, where real-life Barbie doll Pixee was enjoying an extended stay. Her matching Ken doll, Rodrigo, flew out to join her for a self-styled beauty MOT at the Zorlu and Estetik International clinics headed up by the highly-regarded Dr Bulent Cihentimur

Professional dancer Thaina Silva, from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, may not fit the stereotypically slim, long-legged stature of a ballerina, but that hasn’t stopped her from wowing crowds with her elegance and showing that anyone can dance, whatever their size.The size 18 student says she learnt to dance before she could walk and has dreamt of becoming a professional ballet dancer since she was a young girl

Chandler King spends 30 hours a week practising and studying the sport she loves at the World Championship Centre in Texas.Chandler, who specialises in the bars event, was undefeated last year and nearly achieved the perfect 10 score in a recent competition. Currently on level nine of a possible 10, Chandler is on the invite list for the United States National Development Team and is already making significant progress towards the USA Olympic squad

When Cristina and Benno exchanged wedding vows, they never expected another woman would end their marriage.But 12 years later, the parents of three are getting divorced – so that their girlfriend won’t get jealous. Now either Cristina or Benno Kaiser will marry their 21-year-old lover, Sierra Kuntz, so that all three will have legal rights to their children

Born and raised in the world of motocross, Jaydin Smart is already outstripping older competitors and his parents believe he is on his way to a sparkling professional career.Jaydin’s parents – Jocelyn and Patrick Smart – are also motocross-lovers and the family live on a stretch of land in California, which has its very own race tracks 

Identical Abigail and Isobel, 5, are not only impossible to tell apart – they’re also one in a million twins.Because while the chances of giving birth in the UK to a baby with Down’s syndrome is approximately one in 1,000, the odds of giving birth to identical twins with the condition is one in a million. Mum and dad Jodi and Matt Parry couldn’t be prouder of their daughters and say even if their adorable girls could be born again without Down’s syndrome, they wouldn’t wish for Abigail and camgirls Isobel to be any different

Katie Meade is the first to admit that people with Down’s syndrome are largely absent from the beauty and fashion industries – and she’s determined to change it.The 33-year-old made history last year when she became the first-ever model with Down’s syndrome to be the face of a beauty brand and her career – both as a model and as an ambassador for people with learning disabilities – continues to grow

Fragile Zoe Lush has a rare condition which means her bones are so delicate they ‘break in the wind’.

Zoe broke several bones while she was still in the womb, shattered her collarbone during birth and broke another 100 bones before her first birthday. Now Zoe, who is six, has broken almost every bone in her body and was almost internally decapitated after bones in her neck began to wear away.

Zoe lives with her mum Chelsea Lush, dad Curtis Lush, and three-year-old brother Felix in Huntington Beach, California