When Kristen Luong was a little girl, there was always a great deal of suspicion around her. People would take one look at her and berate her with questions. "Who hit you? Who punched you in the eye?" everyone would ask. Luong was born with a unique birthmark called nevus of Ota. The birthmark creates a black-and-blue circle around her eye. Her entire life, people have mistaken it for a bruise.
"It can get bothersome at times when people yell out or catcall me. People ask me if I got punched in the eye a lot," Luong said. "The funny thing is for the most part of my day, I wouldn't even remember that it was there until someone comments on it."
When men won't stop asking her about her "bruise," she pulls out her wallet, takes out her driver's license, and shows them it's a permanent mark. Luong never hated her birthmark; it was other people who made her think there was something wrong with her appearance. People harassed Luong so much, she considered removing it with laser surgery. When she was a teenager, she even tried covering it up with makeup, but nothing would work. Now as a 36-year-old woman, Luong is accepting her unique look and hopes that it will encourage other women to love their bodies.
"I think it's important for women to embrace their own beauty because we can't please everyone," she said. "I know a lot of women with birthmarks like mine who cover theirs up with makeup or remove theirs permanently… I embrace my birthmark for its uniqueness, and it makes me proud to be who I am."
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[H/T: Mirror UK]
