Model With Vitiligo Who Once Hid Behind Makeup Now Shows Off Skin With Pride!

To be able to accept yourself just the way you are takes a lot of courage, especially in a world where people are manipulated to meet a certain beauty standard. Dark ski, thin hair, a bigger body type, etc. were not considered “beautiful” for a long time. Thankfully, society is changing and more people are coming to terms with themselves and how they look.

An inspiring example of this is the story of 37-year-old Roger Monte who has vitiligo and for 10 years he tried to hide it using makeup, but today he is a successful model who shows off his complexion with pride!

But first, what is vitiligo? Vitiligo is a skin condition that causes white patches in one’s body due to the lack of melanin pigment.

According to Daily Mail, at the age of 23, Roger Monte began to discover white patches in certain areas of his body, including his face.

“Seeing my skin losing pigmentation was terrifying for me. I thought my life, which had barely even started yet, was over at that moment. When I found out that vitiligo can develop because of emotional stress, I blamed myself for it every single day.”

He even faced public humiliation because of vitiligo. Strangers refused to sit next to him as they feared they would get infected, even though vitiligo isn’t an infectious disease.

“One person said that I should be in the circus because the spots on my mouth make me look like a clown.”

When he stood in front of the mirror, he didn’t like what he saw. So he covered the white patches using makeup.

“I didn’t like what I saw in the mirror and I wore makeup to cover my vitiligo for ten long years. It felt like I was being held hostage. I didn’t like going to the beach or the gym or anything that made me sweat.”

This went on for 10 years. His mental health kept worsening because of this. Until he made some new, very nice friends at the gym who encouraged him to show his real skin and own it.

“In 2016, I met some incredible new friends who started to make me see my spots as something unique and beautiful.”

So one day, he woke up from sleep and mustered up the courage to post a picture of himself on social media. Later, he was surprised to find plenty of supportive comments from friends and strangers. Many complimented his skin and a few kids suffering from vitiligo expressed how inspired they were from him.

“I even had a boy who had also been hiding his own vitiligo with makeup contact me to say that my posts had inspired him to stop hiding his skin. Another girl even got in touch to say that my story had helped cure her depression.”

There was no looking back for Roger after that. He kept on posting pictures of himself and as he gained popularity on social media, photographers took notice and wanted to click his pictures!

And today, Roger is a successful model!

“If my photos are able to help other people embrace their true selves, then I am happy. I made the camera my ally as opposed to my enemy and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.”

What a hero Roger is! We hope his story inspires anybody who is struggling to be themselves.

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