A 59 year-old woman who has faced a lifetime of taunts from cruel trolls about hundreds of tumours that cover her face will soon undergo a life-changing operation to transform her looks.
Annetjie de Wit, from Pretoria, South Africa, has long been afraid to go out for fear of what people would say about her face — which is covered in lesions due to a rare genetic skin condition.
Ms De Wit suffers neurofibromatosis, which affects between 1 in 3,000 and 1 in 5,000 people, and causes non-cancerous tumours to grow along the nerves of the skin.
She described a ‘difficult’ childhood, in which children asked if she had leprosy and called her ‘hideous’.
Annetjie de Wit has been subjected to a lifetime of abuse from bullies who called her ‘ugly’, but has now been offered a chance to treat the symptoms of her genetic condition that causes lesions to grow on her face.
As an adult, she decided to give up work after a colleague threw nasty jibes at her, leading to disabling self-consciousness.
But now, Ms De Wit’s nightmare is nearly over.
While here is no medication or treatment that can fully cure her chronic condition, aesthetic treatments can improve the appearence of the growths on her skin.
She has been chosen as a candidate on a TV show that helps patients like her by offering them transformative medical treatments.
Currently, she is undergoing intensive laser therapy with private aesthetician Dr Riekie Smit to burn away the disfiguring lesions.
Dr Smit said: ‘Annetjie’s treatment involves a laser ablation procedure to burn the lesions, accompanied by radiofrequency with needles to reduce the deep tissue from where they originate.
‘We’re trying to make most of the lesions smaller and those that don’t respond will be surgically removed.’
She recalled being asked if she has leprosy as a child, and why her sister had beautiful skin while she was ‘so hideous.
The 59 year-old is now undergoing laser treatment to have the growths blasted off of her face
By November, some 80 per cent of the tumours will be either destroyed or considerably shrunk, Dr Smit said.
Speaking of her struggle with the disease, Ms De Wit said: ‘[Growing up], I didn’t really have friends.
‘I so badly wanted someone to tell me I was beautiful or that they liked me, or that there was a boy who wanted to kiss me, like the other girls.
‘But who would want to kiss me? I was on many different medications but nothing helped.
‘My mum spent a fortune on beauty products to hide the lesions but they didn’t really help either.
The treatment is expected to result in an 80 per cent improvement in the appearance of Ms De Wit’s skin.
‘I accepted it and thought there was nothing we could really do about it.
‘I became a recluse because it wasn’t pleasant to go out, not even to the shops.
‘Do you know how it feels when people stare at you? It’s not nice at all.’
Desperate for a solution, she applied to appear on the makeover show, called Dr Nou! earlier this year, after spotting an advert calling for participants.
‘I thought, let me apply and see what happens. I had nothing to lose,’ said Ms De Wit. ‘I didn’t think I’d even make the short list.’
She ‘can’t wait’ to show her new face in public.
‘I’m actually a social butterfly, a people person,’ she said. ‘I like to chat, even if it doesn’t seem like it.
‘When December comes, I’ll go to the shops myself to do my Christmas shopping! I can’t wait.’
