Alice (12) has a rare condition, and you can immediately see which one. The Walloon girl has birthmarks all over her body, and she and her father Thierry are tired of the crooked looks and inappropriate comments.
LOOK. Alice shows her birthmarks and she and her father talk about the difficult moments
“I still feel that they think I’m strange,” Alice tells RTL-TVI. “I know what’s going on in their minds, and it’s not good thoughts or kind things.” Father and daughter want to sensitize other people by telling their story in the media. “There are children who are blond, brown or ginger,” says Thierry. “For Alice the difference is less common, but we really need to talk about it so that people don’t notice it anymore.”
Alice’s condition only affects one in 500,000 people and is virtually harmless. “It is estimated that less than one percent of moles are at risk of degenerating into melanoma,” says dermatologist Dominique Tennstedt. “The problem is therefore essentially aesthetic.”
No treatment
You are also born with it. “The embryo that is forming consists of three layers,” says Tennstedt. “The outer layer contains all the cells of the skin and those of the nervous system. It is the poor migration and poor differentiation of these cells that cause the pigment-forming cells (the cells that ensure that we later tan) to move to abnormal places, do not remain deep in the skin and, above all, extend and multiply enormously .”
Precisely because the birthmarks are congenital, there is virtually no treatment. “Ideally we can remove them very early after birth. With small incisions and small grafts we try to remove most of it. This is possible if the spot is not too large. Once it is too big, it is impossible to remove it because we would not be able to close the structures.”
What is beauty?
Alice’s case is also a sign on the wall about how our society thinks about beauty. “The criteria for beauty do not exist in themselves, we invented them,” states Pierre-Joseph Laurent, anthropologist and specialist in the perception of beauty in different cultures. “They are local and/or dependent on our personality. We all have what appeals to us, but nowadays we are increasingly influenced by a kind of standardization that makes us suffer if we do not fit into these fixed categories. Theoretically, there is no reason to fix them, on the contrary: beauty is something unique somewhere, more than a standard.”
One of the ways Alice and her father try to change people’s perceptions is by taking photos. Alice regularly poses for her father’s lens, and there will soon be an exhibition of this in Arlon.
WATCH ALSO. This way you can check for yourself whether a mole is dangerous
WATCH ALSO. Son surprises parents with special skin condition
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Tags: feel strange Alice tired inappropriate reactions birthmarks Domestic
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