My giant birthmark started leaking and breaking off before growing back bigger after I got pregnant
A WOMAN's birthmark started growing rapidly from the side of her face after she fell pregnant for the first time.
Jordan Lopez then noticed the skin swell, crack and leak smelly discharge - but doctors were too afraid to touch it.
The mum endured six years of hell before finally discovering what was wrong.
She was eventually diagnosed with nevus sebaceous syndrome - a rare genetic disorder that presents as a birthmark until hormonal changes force it to expand.
Jordan said: "Everything changed for the worse when I got pregnant.
"I noticed my birthmark swelling, cracking and leaking fluids.
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"I could no longer lie on that side due to a discharge that smelt horrible.
"I had no clue what was going on."
Jordan, from Dallas, Texas, was 18 when she discovered she was expecting her first child.
As she got further into her pregnancy, she spotted her previously-small birthmark was spreading at an alarming rate.
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After giving birth, it then began seeping before breaking off from her head - then growing back again and again.
The concerned mum went straight to the doctor, but it took six years and several pregnancies to find out what was wrong.
"One day I accidentally snatched a big chunk out of my birthmark and in a panic, I ran to the ER hoping they would help me but they had no clue what they were looking at," she said.
"They were scared to touch it, test it, or do anything to it."
The growth kept getting worse and Jordan started to lose all hope of having a normal life.
"It wouldn’t stop growing so I kept picking at it no matter how bad it hurt or how much it bled," she said.
"I discovered a lot of pieces were connected to nerves so I could not go through with my intrusive thoughts which were to just rip it off.
"I was already uncomfortable from the first growth, so the continuous growth made it even worse.
"I was suffering from multiple infections which made it stink when wet."
After years of from "intense" headaches and itchiness almost every day, Jordan finally had the harmless growth removed.
Relishing in her fresh start, the mum-of-four, who described feeling mentally and physically tormented for her entire adult life, said: "I spent years hiding my birthmark with my hair because I felt like that was the only way I could experience a normal life
"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?"
Jordan also wants to spread a message of self-acceptance, love and hope for anyone struggling.
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She said: "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.
"I got a lot of negative comments, mainly people bullying me, but also very positive comments, which always outweigh the bad."
What is nevus sebaceous syndrome?
NEVUS sebaceous syndrome is a condition characterised by a large type of birthmark with abnormalities.
It is usually located on the face, scalp or neck and can affect every organ system.
The most common central nervous system abnormalities are intellectual disability, seizures, and hemimegaloencephaly (abnormal enlargement of one side of the brain).
NSS is not inherited and can be caused by a change in any of several genes.
Most lesions are harmless, with the only concern being cosmetic.
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