- Jamie Henley was born with a port wine stain covering half of her face and neck
- It has since eroded her gums and caused chronic abscesses within her mouth
- Dentists have refused to treat her since she was 8 to prevent a burst blood vessel
- Her dental problems have caused her to be very self-conscious about smiling
Stephen Matthews For Mailonline
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Jamie Henley was born with a port wine stain covering half her face, neck, chest and back
A mother-of-three has been left too embarrassed to smile after being unable to visit the dentist for 30 years because of her facial birthmark.
Jamie Henley, 37, was born with a port wine stain that covers half her face, neck, chest and back.
But she has been refused dental work since she was eight years old due to their fear or bursting a blood vessel and putting her life at risk.
The lack of treatment has since caused her gums to erode and her mouth to be filled with chronic abscesses – which can potentially be fatal – causing her to be self-conscious about showing her teeth.
However, last October, she finally found a dentist specialist in New York willing to help save her smile.
Now she must raise $6,000 (£4,700) to fund the trip so she can have root canals, extractions and implants before any other problems arise.
Ms Henley, from Forney, Texas, said: ‘I’ve not been treated by a dentist since I was eight.
‘When I go in to their office, they take one look at me and turn me away. They don’t know if they are going to make the wrong move.
‘It’s embarrassing, I don’t like to smile a lot. I just want to have a pretty smile and my life could move on.’
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For Ms Henley, her active birthmark has caused her many health issues from a young age such as migraines and sight problems.
Because the birthmark went through her left eye – making her legally blind, she underwent eye surgery when she was 11. She also had bottom lip reconstruction.
The stain can be very painful, often feeling like ‘a thousand rubber bands hitting you on the face’, she said.
It has since eroded her gums and caused chronic abscesses – which can potentially be fatal – causing her to be self-conscious about her teeth
Now she receives laser surgery three to four times a week to make sure her birthmark poses no other issues.
Aside from health issues, she also suffers from rude stares and comments from strangers.
Many think she has suffered a burn or been in a horrific car accident – but she has become used it.
WHAT ARE PORT WINE STAINS?
A port wine stain is a vascular birthmark caused by abnormal development of blood vessels in the skin.
The flat, red or purple marks on the skin are present at birth, but can thicken, darken and develop a strange appearance over time.
They can appear anywhere on the body, but about 65 per cent of port wine stains are on the head and neck.
About three in every 1000 children has a port wine stain and girls are twice as likely to be born with them – but experts are unsure why.
Source: Great Ormond Street Hospital
She added: ‘When you’re at school you just want to be normal, you don’t understand why you’re different from other people.
‘Kids make fun of you but adults were worse – telling their kids not to sit with me at lunch.
‘I try to educate them, children will ask because they are innocent and curious and will say what’s on their mind.
‘I always tell them that God coloured me different, he wanted me to look different.
‘I was marked special and I tell them we were all marked different; different colour hair, face, – we are all different.’
Two years ago, she met a group of other people with port wine stains for the first time in an emotional meet-up in New York.
She said: ‘I went in and felt elated and had to go outside and I cried to the street in New York before I could go back in.
‘To see people have the same problem as you and understand you was indescribable.’
Through the conference, she was connected with a dental specialist and last October returned to New York City as his new patient.
Now she is raising money so she can complete her dental work and be proud of her smile. Anyone wanting to donate can do so here.
She has been refused dental work since she was eight due to their fear or bursting a blood vessel and putting her life at risk (pictured left while at school and pictured right as a child)
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