A woman has gone viral after revealing that a birthmark on her face actually turned out to be a rare genetic disorder.
Dallas native Jordan Lopez, 24, said that she had always been aware of the mark but simply dismissed the mass as simply an irritant to her everyday life.
“I spent years hiding my birthmark with my hair because I felt like that was the only way I could experience a normal life,” Lopez told Caters News. “I thought about things most kids don’t think of, like, ‘If my parents didn’t want me, why was I created like this?’ and ‘Will I ever have my own family?'”
According to the young adult, she eventually started dating and finally met her current partner, who she says made her accept her beauty.
“I met the love of my life, and he went out of his way to assure me that I am worthy of love as a beautiful, amazing woman,” she gushed.
At the age of 18, Lopez became pregnant with the couple’s first child and noticed that the growth on her face started to spread.
“After I gave birth, I noticed my birthmark swelling, cracking & leaking fluids,” said Lopez, adding that she could no longer sleep on that side due to the mass’ foul odor.
The Post reached out to Lopez for comment.
Things took a serious turn after Lopez accidentally scratched off a “big chunk out of my birthmark” and rushed to the emergency room.
According to the mother, the doctors “had no clue what they were looking at — they were scared to touch it, test it, to do anything to it.”
As the mark continued to grow, Lopez said that she lost all hope for a normal life.
“I ended up creating a picking habit — it wouldn’t stop growing, so I kept picking it down no matter how bad it hurt or how much it bled,” said Lopez, who added that much of the growth was connected to nerve endings, so she couldn’t rip them out.
“I was already uncomfortable from the first growth, so the continuous growth made it even worse,” cried Lopez. “I was suffering from multiple infections, which made it stink when wet.”
After four failed attempts to have the mark frozen off, the mom-of-four managed to convince doctors to finally test it.
“They tried testing just the surface of my birthmark and it did not work. So they went deeper into the skin, and that’s when I got my diagnosis — Linear nevus sebaceous syndrome,” stated Lopez.
According to the National Organization for Rare Diseases, Linear nevus sebaceous syndrome is a random mutation with “a broad range of abnormalities that may affect every organ system including the central nervous system.”
The site states that other common abnormalities are intellectual disability, seizures and hemimegalencephaly — when one side of the brain is larger than the other — as well as eye abnormalities, skeletal deformities, heart defects and an increased risk of cancer with age.
After receiving the diagnosis, Lopez immediately googled her symptoms like many people would.
“I found so many scary things, so I stopped reading. I just continued to go to these appointments,” said Lopez.
Finally, after years of suffering, Lopez — who documented her journey on TikTok — underwent surgery that removed the mark altogether.
Free of the growth, the mom said she now wants to help raise awareness for those also suffering from rare genetic disorders.
“I knew my mission was to help others with rare diseases, facial differences, or body differences, in general, and help them to have the confidence to be accepting of themselves,” said Lopez. “We are the people who feel no one is listening. We are the people who feel lonely in a room full of people. We are the people who deserve the same opportunities as everyone else.”
Lopez’s story has gone viral on both TikTok and Instagram, where she has been praised for her bravery and beauty,
“Your story is remarkable God bless you on your journey beautiful,” commented one follower on Instagram.
“You are so inspiring and I’m so happy for you,” said a second person.
Lopez has come in for her fair share of trolls as well, but the young adult has shaken off the hate, saying that positive ones outweigh the awful ones.
“I got a lot of negative comments, mainly people bullying me, but also very positive comments, which always outweigh the bad,” said Lopez. “I have raised awareness to over 10 million people, which is amazing.”
