A woman who was born with fluid filled cysts on her face was called a monster and trolled by 10,000 strangers — but now feels “happier” than ever.
Indira de Rooij, 25, was born with lymphatic malformation — where lymph vessels form abnormally — when her parents spotted something was wrong with her face.
The cysts were on her chin, tongue and throat and she had to have a tracheotomy fitted to help her breathe and over 30 surgeries to reduce the malformations.
Indira stopped undergoing operations when she reached school age due to the risk of paralyzing her face.
She has finally accepted how she looks but suffered years of bulling and says cruel kids would take photos of her.
She was even trolled on X, formally Twitter, aged 16 for being compared to a monster with a facial disfigurement — which racked up 10,000 likes.
Indira has undergone lots of therapy and now feels her happiest.
Indira, a nurse, from Almere, Netherlands said: “I went viral when I was 16. I was compared to a movie monster with a facial disfigurement.
“It got 10,000 likes.
“There is never a day when people don’t look at me and laugh at me.
“I have semi accepted myself and how I look.
“No matter what I look like people will always be mean.
“I have never been happier than I am this year.”
Indira was diagnosed when she was just a few hours old.
She said: “My mum saw there was something wrong with my face.
“They noticed my breathing was obstructed.”
Indira had an emergency surgery to have a tracheotomy fitted as the cysts block 70% of her airways.
She was in hospital for three months — when her heart stopped twice and she had to undergo several surgeries to remove cysts from her chin.
Indira said: “The bigger malformation are the size of a ping pong ball but some parts you can’t even see with a microscope.
“Eventually they stopped because of the risk of getting paralyzed.”
Indira’s parents pushed for her to go to a normal school but at around aged 12, Indira started to notice strangers reactions.
She aid: “They’ve always said no matter what’s going on outside she has the brains.
“At around aged 12 or 13, I started to see and notice people looking at me and staring.
“They started taking photos of me.
“You get a bit anxious. It was really tough on my mental health.
“Pictures were going round of me.
“People were looking at me and laughing at me.
“It feels very degrading.”
At aged 16, a stranger found a photo of Indira and posted it on Twitter — comparing her to a monster.
Indira said: “I went into therapy then.”
Indira’s has had more surgeries to remove her malformations as an adult but it is now stable.
Her malformation’s don’t impact her day to day — other than not being able to swim and still having a tracheotomy so she can breathe.
Indira is looking for alternative ways of removing the cysts — such as through medication.
She said: “I don’t want to have any risky surgery.
“I will never be 100 percent comfortable with the way I look because we all have these beauty standards but it’s something I have to live with.”
Indira hopes she can give confidence to others who are also impacted by visual differences.
She said: “I think it’s very important to self accept yourself. There will always be people who will not accept you.
“If you have big dreams and you have a disability it doesn’t mean you can’t do it.
“No one thought I was going to be working as a nurse or living as I do now.”
