As anyone who's ever shared a makeup free selfie will know, going into our image obsessed world barefaced can be a terrifying experience.  So can you imagine how must courage it must take for someone with a noticeable skin condition to expose themselves online?

This is the challenge former model Breanne Rice faced when she decided to make public a picture of her natural face after spending 12 years covering up her skin with thick makeup.

At 19 Breanne was diagnosed with vitiligo – an autoimmune disorder which causes skin colour to be lost in blotches – after she woke up one morning with a new white mark on her normally sallow face.  Over time that mark developed into numerous pale patches which left Breanne feeling self-conscious about her appearance.

 

 

At 19, I was diagnosed with vitiligo, and it spread rapidly causing me to lose over half of the pigment on my face. Yeah. Not the bottom of my foot or my arm..but ONLY on my face. I got really good at doing my makeup, and I didn't want anyone to know about it. I couldn't look in the mirror without crying, and feeling unattractive. When I am exposed to the sun, it tans my healthy skin and leaves my vitiligo even more noticeable. It's taken me a very long time to be able to go public with this, and to walk around publicly without any makeup. Why? Because it's my face. Although I would like to say I am super confident and it never gets to me, sometimes it does. Some days people make comments saying "what happened to your face?!" Sometimes if I have a crush on someone I am worried about them seeing me without makeup and worry that they won't think I'm cute. It's like ohh hey by the way..this is the real me underneath all this. You know what though, I own it. There's not much I can do about it. I can only love myself, and not let my circumstances define my value or self-worth. What is the definition of beautiful anyway? Is it being perfect? What do you see when you look in the mirror? Perhaps you have a circumstance or something about yourself that you are insecure about. Don't let it define you. You deserve love, and you are beautiful  #vitiligo #beauty #perfect #seattle #health #holistic #nutrition #inspire #encourage #love #selfworth #loveyourself #digestion #autoimmune #vitiligoselfie #vitiligolove #vitiligobeauties #healing #healthyskin #skin #pigment #inspiring #inspirational #vitiligo #love #selflove #beauty

A photo posted by BreanneRice (@breannerice) on Mar 9, 2016 at 12:44pm PST

 

But in March this year the nutritional therapist decided she had had enough of covering up and, in a bid to help others regain their confidence, Breanne took to Instagram to share her story.

In a barefaced post which has since gone viral, Breanne wrote: “At 19, I was diagnosed with vitiligo, and it spread rapidly causing me to lose over half of the pigment on my face.”

“I got really good at doing my makeup, and I didn't want anyone to know about it. I couldn't look in the mirror without crying, and feeling unattractive.”

 

 

I have vitiligo and I've only got it on my face. It started when I was 19, and I got very sick with digestive distress and became allergic to every protein imaginable. The top left picture is not pretty, but it's when it was at its absolute worst, and I also felt my worst about the way I looked(can you tell by my expression?

 

“It's taken me a very long time to be able to go public with this, and to walk around publicly without any makeup. Why? Because it's my face. Although I would like to say I am super confident and it never gets to me, sometimes it does.”

“Some days people make comments saying ‘what happened to your face?!’ Sometimes if I have a crush on someone I am worried about them seeing me without makeup and worry that they won't think I'm cute.”

“You know what though, I own it. There's not much I can do about it. I can only love myself, and not let my circumstances define my value or self-worth. What is the definition of beautiful anyway?” 

 

 

@highsnobiety #sneakpeak

A photo posted by Winnie (@winnieharlow) on Jul 23, 2016 at 12:08pm PDT

In 2014 model Winnie Harlow rose to fame when she competed in American’s Next Top Model.  The 21-year-old has since used her position in the public eye to speak about her own experience with vitiligo.

We love how these women are using their own stories to expand the definition of beauty for everyone.