After August 7th, 2014, I had a difficult time with my body image. I had just undergone a spinal fusion, a corrective surgery for scoliosis, and was left with a massive scar that ran from the base of my neck to the beginning of my lumbar vertebrae. I was ashamed of the imperfection and hid underneath sweatshirts or t-shirts for the rest of that summer. The following summer, I felt like all eyes were on me the first time I wore a bikini. I was uncomfortable with the unwanted attention and just plain tired of having to explain why I had such a large scar.

In January of 2016, I decided to do something about it. Homecoming was coming up and I refused to limit the kind of dress I wore because of my scar. I chose a backless dress that was extremely flattering for my body type, but yet, I still felt uncomfortable. I wasn't ashamed of my scar in the least, I earned it after all. I just felt that it was ugly. My mother offered to fill it in with costume strength concealer, but I didn't want to hide it anymore. Instead, I wanted to accent it. I got her to paint my scar with silver glitter and attach pearls so that It mimicked the popular button down tulle dresses. Instead of questions and stares of horror that night, I got more compliments and inquiries of how I got the pearls to stay on so well.

I did this again numerous times before graduating high school, some for events and some just because I could. I used black glitter for pep rallies, green rhinestones for spirit week, diamonds and gold eye shadow for prom, and even red, white and blue temporary tattoos for the fourth of July. After a little bit of research, I found that I wasn't the only one doing this. Women around the world use tattoos to cover or accent single or double mastectomy scars, allowing them to keep their sense of femininity and to feel more confident about being shirtless during the summer. People who had to have amputations, corrective surgeries, reconstructive surgeries after a tragedy, or a physical irregularity from birth have used similar techniques to boost their self-esteem and feel beautiful.

This works for guys, too! I've seen barbed wire paintings and tattoos used for the same purpose, but without all of the glam and glitz that I would want. My message to all of you out there struggling with a scar is to simply do what you think is beautiful. We have earned every single imperfection on our bodies and there is no reason we shouldn't show it off.