As a copywriter and broadcaster, Luise has always enjoyed communicating with the world. But, with time, she also discovered another line of communication: communicating with her body. Clearly, as a model, she doesn’t shy away from flaunting her vitiligo, which she considers nothing, but a piece of art.
Luise was diagnosed with vitiligo at the age of 9. Now a 28 years old communication professional recalls, “My first spot appeared on my leg. At first, I did not understand what it was. When the spots increased in size, I finally had the diagnosis. As a child, vitiligo did not scare me. It was more difficult to deal with it as a teenager and adult.”
Like many other vitiligo fighters, Luise too experienced bullying: “The people looked at my body strangely and called it a form of punishment. These people assumed that they had the right to say anything about my body. I also had to deal with annoying questions. I heard nicknames and sad comments about my skin condition. Thankfully, all this while, I had my family’s support.”
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The Brazilian beauty who was born in the state of Bahia says it took her a long time to treat her body with affection and accept who she is. “I was inspired by stories of many people with vitiligo. A book I would love to recommend fellow vitiligo fighters is A Menina Feita de Nuvens (‘The Girl made in Clouds’ in English). This is a sweet story of a child with vitiligo. Reading this book made me feel as if I was told my own story.”
Since loving yourself is a daily and difficult process, Luise needed to find her own meaning of beauty. “My vitiligo helped me to form my character and changed my vision of myself for better. Even though the world says otherwise, my skin is beautiful and unique. Today, I am happy with my colorful body. I cannot imagine my life without it. Vitiligo is part of who I am today.”
Luise stopped all treatments a short time ago as it was getting very tiring with no results. However, she is still in favor of medical research on vitiligo. “I believe we should take care of our body and mind, having vitiligo or not. Meanwhile, we need to be better represented on television and in magazines for sure,” the vitiligo crusader signs off.
