00:00You can see the pressure I'm putting on my skin.
00:05That is real.
00:15A port wine stain is basically, in the easiest terms possible, a triple amount of capillaries
00:22that have built up under this side of the skin over here.
00:25It can develop blebs, it can get darker, and really it could be lighter, darker, depending
00:29on emotional state, temperature, just a variation of factors that are environmental and internal.
00:36When kids see it, I just say, oh, it's like a big red freckle.
00:39And then SWS is Serge-Weber syndrome, which is why I have the shot in my eye and why I
00:44have an even more difficult time getting medical treatment when I need it.
00:48I was reading books about my condition at the age of 8, 9, 10, 11 years old, so I was
00:53reading
00:53all these very scientific terms and trying to understand what was going on with my skin
00:57and my face.
00:58And so those moments in childhood, it definitely made things difficult on the terms of confidence.
01:06And that's when I was, I want to say like 9, 10 years old, that's when I first started
01:10wearing makeup.
01:11In your mind, you hoped it would be like a magic fix.
01:13And in a way, it does lessen the attention, but it's definitely one of those things that's
01:17a little complex.
01:18Sometimes even now when I do makeup, it doesn't feel natural.
01:21I've had these back and forth moments of choosing whether I'm going to wear makeup or
01:26choosing whether I'm going to embrace it.
01:27And I'm just in this moment in my life now where I'm like, I think that we can just do
01:31both.
01:32And I know a lot of people are like, why is it that you only post about this on social
01:35media and this?
01:36Because it may not be that to you, but to me, it is my entire existence.
01:40Everywhere I go, everyone I talk to, why does your face do?
01:43Why is it red?
01:43Did you get beat up?
01:44All the questions.
01:45So many questions.
01:46And I've just spent a lot of my life advocating for others or trying to be an example for
01:54others that looking different doesn't mean that you're less.
Comments