Scleroderma Stories: Scleroderma, Self-Esteem and Covering Up

In Cosmopolitan magazine’s beauty section, a 41-year-old woman talks about her issues with self-esteem and the need to wear a a full face of make-up to take on the world each day. This may seem like a standard beauty story, but the major difference is that Lisa Goodwin-Helfand has been battling scleroderma since she was 10 years old.

MORE: Read our list of 12 things to care for when you have scleroderma.

Since she was 12, the disease has caused red markings on Lisa’s face and body called telangiectasia. Since then, she’s never left the house without makeup to hide her blemishes. She would carefully pick her wardrobe so that her thin arms and legs (another symptom of her scleroderma) were always covered and she would take care not to show any skin.

However, Lisa began to view her facial markings differently following a long stay in the hospital after the birth of her child. She began to realize that there were more important things in life than other people seeing her “flaws.”

You can read Lisa’s whole story on cosmpolitan.com.

MORE: Find out more about raising the public profile of scleroderma.

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