Brooke Atkins has opened up about her experience of getting her child's face lasered due to a port wine stain to avoid future health complications.
However, social media has been very unkind to the mom and has labeled her a monster for putting her child through so much pain.
Stay-at-home mom Brooke Atkins, 33, shares with the world that she was mocked and labeled a 'monster' by cruel trolls after she chose to laser off her baby's facial birthmark.
The Aussie mom says she did it to help her child.
Atkins welcomed her second child, an adorable baby boy named Kingsley six months ago.
Soon after her child's birth, the mom noticed a large 'port wine' mark covering half of his face.
Port-wine stain birthmarks do not cause any harm but if they are on the face they can develop into glaucoma and Sturge-Weber Syndrome.
This can lead to seizures and more disabilities and glaucoma can develop into blindness.
Sadly, Kingsley was diagnosed with both.
"The thing with port wine stains is that they are progressive, meaning they will change and darken over time,” Brooke told NeedToKnow.online.
"They can develop a ‘cobblestone’ appearance, with raised bumps, ridges, and the risk of vascular blebs, where they dangerously bleed.
"Once a port wine stain gets to this stage, it is often very difficult to treat and laser barely has any affect, as the skin is already far too damaged."
So the couple decided to move ahead and get laser treatment for their child.
She said:
"The only way to treat a port wine stain is through laser treatments and the most effective laser for a it is called a Pulsed Dye Laser.
"When he was first born, we were referred to the Queensland Children’s Hospital dermatology and vascular department, where they organise the first treatment and explain in further details why laser would be important.
"The purpose of the laser treatments are not to 'remove' the birthmark but instead keep the skin healthy, to prevent any further damage to the area."
The family is currently undergoing treatment with Kingsley and is amazed by him daily.
However, they are being criticized by online trolls on TikTok, who Brooke says called her a “monster” after she shared a post about it.
One person said: "Don’t think I could laser my baby."
Another commented: "That birthmark is barely visible, what you're doing to him is horrible, it's more for you than him."
Someone else said: "Did you deadass laser a baby." [sic]
"Brainwashed mother making her kid insecure the second he gets out the womb," commented another user.
"Why is everyone supporting this," commented someone else.
However, there were many people who decided to support her.
One person said: "You’re the mom and you know what is the best for him."
Another commented: "He would've still looked as beautiful with or without the birthmark."
Responding to all the comments, Brooke said:
“Honestly, when I first started reading the negative comments, I sat there for a good half an hour and cried to myself.
“I had a whole heap of mum guilt and it made me question my decision, even though I knew I was doing the right thing, the cruel words still played in my head.
“Thankfully for every negative comment, there were 100 positive, so it helped a lot!
“I just wish these people had known about the health issues connected to these types of birthmarks before writing these things, that this wasn’t for cosmetic reasons and that as parents, this was the hardest decision we have had to make.
“That the last six months have been extremely hard on us and reading these comments, actually do hurt – this is the last thing we need, judgement from those who have no understanding around my sons conditions.”
She added:
"Although I constantly worry about my son’s future and what it will be like, he continues to hit all his milestones.
"This journey for our family has just started and there is a long road ahead but we will push through!
"Over 20 hospital appointments, two different hospitals, over 10 differenc specialists and doctors, five different medical departments, three MRI’s, one ultrasound, two hearing tests, two operations, two laser treatments and three diagnoses, all in six months – yet he is the happiest, most loving and sweetest boy you will ever meet!"