Woman born with facial birthmark slammed by trolls for choosing to lighten it

Real Fix

Credit: SWNS / Danielle Lipple  \A woman who was born with a port wine stain birthmark on her face says trolls slam her for choosing to get laser surgery to lighten it.   Danielle Lipple, 28, has a vascular malformation – an abnormal development of blood vessels – across her lower face, neck and on the inside of her mouth and throat.  She has been getting laser surgery to lighten the birthmark since she was just aged one and believes she has had around 20 operations to date.  Danielle says her parents raised her to never believe her birthmark was anything “bad” but she decided to continue with treatment as an adult as the malformation can cause bleeding.  She now feels it is something that is “part of her” but finds it frustrating when strangers tell her she “shouldn’t get rid of it”.

Transcript

00:00I'm gonna do something scary. I'm going to go outside, walk down the street of my brand new neighborhood.

00:06You can see my- I'm shaking.

00:08I've met none of the neighbors to a mailbox that's on the street, right next to a very busy ice cream place

00:14so that I can mail a wedding invite.

00:17None of them know I have a birthmark and I am stressed.

00:23Here's the fit. I'm hoping that they look at my outfit and not my face.

00:28I show you guys my birthmark on the internet, but in person it is a completely different game.

00:35Okay, let's go.

00:41Oh, it's not super busy.

00:47But it's by a very busy intersection.

00:49Okay, there it is.

00:53So far, I don't see literally anyone.

00:57Almost there.

01:03Okay, that's not the end of it.

01:06I'm literally not shaking at all anymore.

01:10I think it's one of those things where you hype yourself up that it's going to be so terrible.

01:15Normally, there's tons of kids outside.

01:18My neighbors are outside. My neighbors across the street are outside.

01:22But I literally don't see anyone.

01:24Am I just lucky right now?

01:30That was easy.

01:34Now I feel silly.

01:38Things have always been on my terms when it comes to showing people my birthmark.

01:41I choose what video I want to post to TikTok.

01:45I choose if I want to put makeup on before going and seeing someone or having someone over.

01:51I choose where and when I want to show this part of myself to other people.

01:57It's hard sometimes to control that.

02:00If I'm in my pajamas and freshly showered and the doorbell rings, there's only so much you can control.

02:07We're all self-conscious about something.

02:09So when you are in control of the thing you are self-conscious about,

02:13or if you're in control of any adjacent part,

02:19it feels better.

02:21I know I can put makeup on if I want.

02:24I know I can put on a nice outfit to distract if I want.

02:28I know I could have driven down there if I wanted to.

02:33I can't control this.

02:35I can control everything else, or most of everything else.

02:42Do scary things.

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