Yulianna Yussef didn’t give her skin a second thought until she was 8.
She was born with a congenital melanocytic nevus, a mark present from the very first day that covers much of her back, extends onto her abdomen, and leaves smaller spots on her legs.
That’s when she began to notice “all those eyes on me”. At school, children called her ‘Dalmatian’, ‘giraffe’ and ‘cow’, and some parents wouldn’t let their children play with her for fear she was contagious.
At 14, at the height of the bullying, she only left home at night to avoid comments and stares.
Strangers offered her advice on removing her ‘warts’, and she feared no one would love a girl with a dark, hairy back.
She tried treatments, but the only real solution was a skin graft, which would require more than a dozen operations. She decided against it.
Today, from Warsaw, she uses Instagram with the hashtag #bareyourbirthmark to show her skin just as it is.
She says she feels confident and even ‘sexy’, and receives hundreds of messages calling her beautiful and strong.