My name is Mckale from Starkville, MS. As a child, I always had a small white patch on the left side of my eye that I just assumed it was a birth mark. It never spread and it wasn’t bothersome, so I never worried much about it. My mom even said it was a birthmark because she had forgotten that I was not actually born with it. So by time I got to the fourth grade another patch began to come on my forehead I thought maybe it was just sun damage.

I tried not to worry and just ignore it, thinking it would just stop. But it didn’t. It’s funny because I didn’t immediately associate this with the patch I already had on my eye. In fact, it was always such a part of me that the thought never even entered my mind that I could have had vitiligo as a child and never knew it. But one day, I did think about it and I asked my mom. She started remembering that I had actually developed the white patch sometime after I was born…as to exactly when, she couldn’t be sure. I have always been a very sensitive child, both emotionally and physically. I started thinking about how I was looking now and what people would think and say.

When I began searching for “vitiligo cures”, that could stop my vitiligo from spreading, I could not find much. I mostly found a bunch of websites selling creams and topical oils. The first skin cream I bought was $100. Which is now called “Pro Topic” My mom actually bought it for me because I couldn’t afford it at the time. I began to use it for over six years and my patches began to get smaller but there was never a cure for it.

After six years I then began to get patches under my right arm and I knew I would live with this disorder for the rest of my life. I had such low self-esteem, and began to hate myself; people would make fun of me and call me names such as; 101 Dalmatians and patches. Of course it got to me, but over time God taught me how to accept and love myself for who I really am. I realized when you learn not to care about what others have to say or judging you that’s when God began healing you. So never be ashamed of yourself or what people think of you because we are all humans and everyone has flaws.

NOBODY IS PERFECT!