A woman with a red birthmark that covers nearly half of her face reveals the port wine stain is now growing inside of her mouth – and medics say there is nothing they can do.
Reagan Baylee Campbell, 25, from Los Angeles, was born with a vascular birthmark known as a port wine stain and despite enduring bullying comments with her face being compared to spaghetti sauce, she defiantly refuses to wear makeup to cover her condition.
A port wine stain is a capillary malformation in the skin, causing a dark red stain to appear on the body. Port wine stains are most common on the face, with approximately 67 per cent of stains being located on the face and neck.
Reagan Baylee Campbell, 25, from Los Angeles, was born with a vascular birthmark on her face known as a port wine stain, which has no cure or treatment other than lightening surgery
A port wine stain is a capillary malformation in the skin, causing a dark red stain to appear on the body, however, they are most common on the face and neck
Laser surgery is available to lighten the stain(pictured right before surgery), the surgery works by shooting at beam, of light at the skin(pictured left after surgery)
To lessen the birthmark, laser surgery is available. It works by shooting a narrow beam of light that absorbs the color into the blood vessels by shutting them down. Although it never removes the mark completely, it does lighten the color.
Reagan has undergone a total of eight laser surgeries in hopes of lightening her birthmark. Six of her surgeries were done before the age of five to prevent tissue growth and sagging of the skin in later life.
However, her birthmark is a continual struggle that must be maintained with regular surgeries for the birthmark to remain lightened.
Not only does the 25-year-old’s birthmark affect the physical appearance of her skin, the port wine stain can also cause various health issues due to its progressive nature.
In the last year, Reagan has noticed a significant change in her birthmark. Upon turning 25, the port wine stain became dramatically darker and puffy.
Upon visiting a port wine stain specialist, it was revealed that Reagan had nodules that, if left untreated, would cause her birthmark to grow and permanently alter her appearance.
Reagan has undergone a total of eight laser surgeries(pictured right before surgery), six of her surgeries were done before the age of five to prevent tissue growth(shown left after surgery)
When Reagan turned 25 she noticed her port wine stain became significantly darker and dramatically puffier
After visiting a port wine specialist, Reagan learned that she had clumps of abnormal cells which caused her birthmark to extend into her gums
Following this, Reagan had two more laser surgeries to lighten the darkening stain, however, the stain is progressive and will darken again over time.
Reagan also experiences health issues as a result of her port-wine stain.
As well as the growing puffiness and the darkening color of the mark, Reagan also experiences bleeding in her mouth.
‘For females, hormones can have a large impact on the appearance and hue of your birthmark. I turned 25 last year and began noticing a few slight changes in my port wine stain. I was experiencing puffiness and the birthmark itself had darkened significantly,’ she said.
‘After visiting a PWS specialist, it was revealed that I had nodules (clumps of abnormal cells) that had formed. If left untreated, they can further progress my birthmark and alter the appearance permanently.
‘Aside from the puffiness and change in hue I also experience regular bleeding in my mouth due to my birthmark extending into my gums and roof of my mouth. While this is an unpleasant experience, there is no cure or treatment.’
As a child, Reagan’s parents taught her to embrace her birthmark with a positive attitude, however, her peers often made this difficult. While in school children would often taunt Raegan for the way she looked, asking continual questions and drawing attention to her differences.
In her teen years, Reagan developed acne, causing her self-confidence to decline further. She started relying heavily on makeup to cover up her birthmark and acne.
Reagan also received many negative comments as she matured, with people saying that ‘you should cover that’ and ‘makeup exists for a reason’. One person went as far as to ask ‘is that spaghetti sauce all over your face?’
Aside from her health issues, Raegan suffered low confidence in her teen years and relied on makeup to cover up her birthmark and acne
Reagan received many negative comments, with people saying that ‘you should cover that’ and ‘makeup exists for a reason’
Although the 25-year-old(pictured as a baby) was born with the stain, she still struggled with confidence and had to learn how to embrace her unique stain
Accepting her birthmark became a hard task as she was continually pressured to cover it up, and forced to pretend there was nothing there.
‘From a young age, my parents taught me to be bold and fearless when addressing my birthmark in public. I am extremely grateful for the manner in which my parents handled my birthmark as I believe it laid a solid foundation for me as I neared my teenage years when confidence naturally dips,’ said Reagan.
‘I moved a lot as a child which meant I had to address my birthmark more than usual. Thankfully, it was much lighter when I was young due to 5 preventative laser surgeries at a young age.
‘I felt most insecure about my birthmark while I had braces and was struggling with severe acne.
‘I started to heavily rely on makeup ”in order to feel pretty” and it has taken nearly a decade to reverse that mentality.
‘I receive negative comments about my birthmark on a daily basis.
‘This is not to overshadow the outpouring of support from my followers and strangers all over the world, however, it is still extremely prevalent.
‘There are a few stand-out comments that tend to bother me most including the following: ”you looked better before”, ”you should cover that” and ”makeup exists for a reason,” said the 25-year-old.
Despite the comments, Reagan began to embrace her differences in her mid-twenties, accepting that her birthmark made her unique and not wearing makeup to cover it.
Although there is no cure or treatment to prevent or ease the bleeding, Reagan accepts her birthmark and advocates for other to accept themselves the way they are.
Despite the comments, Reagan began to embrace her differences in her mid-twenties, accepting that her birthmark made her unique and not wearing makeup to cover it
Reagan is still undergoing surgery to lighten her birthmark(pictured immediately after surgery), however, she has now accepted that there will never be a cure
Although her birthmark extended to her mouth(as shown above) Reagan has learned to better handle the excessive bleeding in pain through a support page on Instagram
Reagan has even started her own clothing brand, Hello Port Wine Stain, where she designs clothes around her birthmark and runs a support page on Instagram for others with port wine stains.
Reagan has gained support fast, with her own Instagram quickly progressing to nearly 13,000 followers, and her dedicated support page is also on the rise. She has also grown her community of over 330k followers on TikTok.
‘My birthmark is a vascular malformation otherwise known as a port wine stain. Named after the red wine, port wine stain birthmarks are known for their reddish hue and unique ‘stain’ appearance across the body,’ she said.
‘Port wine stain birthmarks are progressive lesions meaning that they most likely will thicken and darken with age. Laser surgery helps maintain the integrity of the skin and prevents sagging or cobbling of the skin.
‘I have had 8 surgeries over my lifetime, and they are far from a pleasant experience.’
Although Reagan has struggled with the port stain all of her life and was brought up to love her skin and her unique stain, comments from peers and strangers took their toll.
‘As a woman, we are targeted by advertisers from a young age- telling us how to do our makeup, what to wear and the newest beauty treatment that will keep us from ageing. Rarely does marketing suggest we should embrace who we are.’
Despite her differences, the negativity and the health issues, Reagan puts a positive spin on her birthmark embracing what makes her unique.
‘Overcoming my insecurities and shifting my mindset has been a difficult obstacle to overcome. It wasn’t until my mid-twenties that I began posting photos or videos bare faced, let alone showing off my birthmark,’ said Reagan.
‘As for romantic relationships, I’ve made an effort to only seek partners who truly embrace my uniqueness and love me for who I am. Thankfully I have a boyfriend who adores my birthmark and wouldn’t have me any other way.
‘Since the time I was young, I have had an outgoing personality.
‘I never fear from a challenge and have made it a life mission to empower others to love the skin they’re in.
‘I am proud to have achieved inspiring others through sharing my story. I never thought of myself as underrepresented until the expansion of the diversity and inclusion movement. It feels incredible to contribute to the education of others while hopefully inspiring younger generations.
‘Life would be boring if we all looked the same, embrace who you are- the young child seeking representation will thank you for it.’