My daughter’s got a birthmark & I’m fed up with the ridiculous things people say… there’s nothing ‘wrong with her face’

A MUM whose daughter has a noticeable birthmark has admitted she's fed up with the ridiculous things people say.

Lucy's daughter Lola was born with a hemangioma (strawberry) birthmark on the side of her face.

Lucy took to Instagram to share a video urging people to stop saying ridiculous things about her daughter Lola and her birthmark
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Lucy took to Instagram to share a video urging people to stop saying ridiculous things about her daughter Lola and her birthmarkCredit: Instagram/@thelifeoflola___
Now that she's older, the mark has faded, but it's been a "long, slow and frustrating journey", Lucy added
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Now that she's older, the mark has faded, but it's been a "long, slow and frustrating journey", Lucy addedCredit: Instagram/@thelifeoflola___

While the mark is less noticeable now, Lucy said in a video on her Instagram page that it "has been a long, slow, frustrating journey for Lola and these results have not happened overnight".

And people still consistently ask the same questions and make the same remarks about Lola's appearance.

"Things parents of children with birthmarks are fed up of hearing," she captioned a video of herself with Lola as a baby on Instagram.

"STOP SAYING THESE THINGS!

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"I recently asked birthmark parents what comments they receive that they are fed up of hearing."

Lucy then went on to list the things "NOT to say to a birthmark parent, conducted by birthmark parents themselves".

"‘Are you going to remove it?’, 'Why don’t you just laser it off?’, ‘How did they burn their face?’, ‘Have you burnt your child?’, ‘Have you dropped your child?’, ‘That looks like a nasty bang!’, ‘What did they do to their (head/face/etc)?, ‘Oh my god what happened to her?’
‘Hopefully it will disappear soon’, ‘Oh, what a shame..’" she began.

Followed by: "‘Whats mummy/ daddy been doing to you?!’, ‘Has she got a rash?’ ‘Is it contagious?, ‘She’s still cute, even with a birthmark’,
‘At least she’s a girl and can wear make up!’, ‘Good thing she’s a girl so you can cover it with headbands and hair’, ‘It will go away, won’t it?’ ‘It could be so much worse though’."

"This is just a short list of many, many real life examples I was sent this week when I asked the question ‘what should you not say to a birthmark parent?’" Lucy wrote.

"Shocking, right?

"The reality is these things get said to us all the time.

"Can you imagine how it would feel leaving the house to be constantly accused of hurting your child when you hadn’t, sometimes even by medical professionals?

"Can you imagine your child’s image being ridiculed (often in front of them) and being told you needed to change something about their face?

"Can you imagine strangers patronising you about how sad and sorrowful it is you’ve birthed a child with a visible difference?"

People were quick to comment on the post, with one writing: "I simply cannot and never will these kind of comments?????

"WHY? Why would you ??? Something is dreadfully wrong with these people!!!!

"You clearly have more self control than I do, because I wouldn’t be being polite to them.

"Mainly, because they need stopping so they don’t do it to other parents."

"My eldest son had an Hemangioma birthmark across his right eye, it completely closed, he’s 35 this year, you can’t see he ever had one !!" another added.

"I am 100% this beautiful little lady will shine throughout her life, with or without her special mark that makes her so extra special."

"As someone that has the exact same birth mark as your baby, this comments triggered me," a third wrote.

"While they are directed to the parents, the kids are listening.

"It impacted my self esteem. Sad thing is that people still mention it in my adult life.

"Only difference is that now I reply back: 'are you always this dumb/inconvenient/judgmental?' then I’m called rude LOL.

"Sending love from a love mark to the other."

While someone else said: "I’m 67 and have a vascular malformation on my face and I still have people say things to me.

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"I worked in a Children’s Hospital and we had a vascular malformation clinic and treated many children with these.

"I never understand why someone can ask what’s wrong with my face."