Mariana Mendes from Brazil was born with a birthmark that covers a large part of her face
It’s called congenital melanocytic nevus, and it’s estimated to affect just 1 in every 20,000 babies
Mariana’s mother was scared she’d be bullied for it, so she had laser surgery when she was five
The surgery didn’t have much of an effect, but Mariana is glad
“I feel more beautiful and totally different from other people because I have a nevus,” she said
“I have been told by a few people that it’s “ugly” or “strange”, but it doesn’t bother me”
“I don’t get upset if a person doesn’t like my nevus, to me it’s like any other part of my body”
“I’m proud of having a nevus, it’s a part of who I am and how I learned to like myself”
“I will never be ashamed of my nevus and feel good having it”
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