My face is scratched in every photo of me from the time I was six years old. My parents always stated that was due to the low quality of printers at the time. Today, when visiting my aunt, I came upon a photo album of a family event from 1992. I was terrified to notice one of the photographs.

I saw “myself” and froze… I was totally covered in red patches. My face was so hidden that I couldn’t believe it was me. It didn’t seem like a printing error. It appeared real. Confused and scared, I asked my aunt about it. She explained that I was born with a unique and severe skin ailment that caused rashes and pimples on my face and torso. I had been treated for years, and thanks to the doctors, my skin finally healed.

My parents never informed me. As a child, my father manipulated images to hide my face, believing that the reality would be too difficult for me to comprehend. The photographs were frightening, but most of all, I wish they had trusted me enough to tell me the truth.