The big picture: Mum won't let birthmark define her daughter's beauty

The tot’s bright blue eyes, button nose and adorable outfits make for the perfect Instagram snap, but it is the birthmark on her face that receives the most attention.

But not all of the attention is nice and her mum, Katie, from Kennesaw, Georgia, is hitting back.

She said: “People constantly ask me what’s wrong with her face. I’ve had complete strangers come up to me in the grocery store and ask if they can pray for her."

Fed up of people’s pitying remarks, Katie wrote a post about how she felt for her blog Twelve and Six and it went viral.

“I wrote a blog post kind of venting about my reactions to the kind of things people were saying to me about her birthmark,” she said.

“I sent it to a website that caters towards parents that have children with differences or disabilities from there it went viral.”

The 29-year-old added: “I had no idea that it was going to get the attention or response that it got. After it went viral there was way more people that could relate to it then I ever would’ve imagined.”

The capillary hemangioma or ‘strawberry’ - a tumour consisting of an abnormal overgrowth of tiny blood vessels - covers the majority of Charlie’s right cheek.

It does not affect Charlie’s health and the baby doesn’t even notice it’s there.

Katie, and her husband Tyler, feel strongly about ‘normalising’ people with different features and disabilities, and one way of doing it that is posting beautiful photos of Charlie to her 13,000 followers on Instagram.

She said: “I don’t want her beauty defined by her birthmark.

“Charlie is a healthy baby girl and we are blessed. Her hemangioma is just as insignificant to who she is as a freckle on her arm.”

Tyler added: “She’s just a normal little girl who does everything every other baby does. Except that she’s cuter in our eyes.”

Despite the response being overwhelmingly positive, Katie still has to deal with harsh comments daily.

When taking photos of her daughter, Katie admits that people have instructed her to turn her to her "good side".

“Family friends have said: ‘It’s a shame, she’d be so pretty if she didn’t have it,” she said.

“But she doesn’t need sympathy – she’s a happy, healthy little girl and she’s beautiful the way she is.”

Most of her Instagram followers are full of praise for Charlie’s big blue eyes and her cute outfits.

Katie said: “I’ve been stunned by how many people related to my story. I’ve heard from mothers who were moved to tears because they knew how I felt.”

While she is adamant that the occasional troll “can’t dull the light that has come from this story”, she is frustrated by ignorance from some corners.

“Over the last couple of months, I have received hundreds of supportive emails from all over the world Some of them are from people suggesting surgery even though they have no idea what her diagnosis or plan of care is,” she said. 

“First of all, surgery is not an option for her. But it also makes me sad that people are wishing away one of her unique features.

“The reaction to people that have openly criticised me sharing her birthmark is that - if she was any other child of mine with any other feature on her face I would be sharing them the same way.”

Charlie’s hemangioma was virtually non-existent at birth – the left side of her face was just a slightly different colour.

The mark then grew rapidly in the first two weeks of her life. But doctors were unsure what it was, and initially thought it might be a type of vascular birthmark known as a "port wine stain”, which is caused by the abnormal development of blood vessels in the skin.

Charlie was six weeks old when she had an MRI scan and the diagnosis was finally made.

Capillary hemangiomas are defects which occur in early pregnancy, with no known cause or prevention, and they usually fade away over time.

Charlie’s mark is harmless, although she takes blood pressure medication to speed up the fading process and prevent it from spreading and affecting her eyesight.

Her progress is closely monitored by a paediatric dermatologist and a paediatric ophthalmologist, who she sees every couple of months.

Charlie herself is too young to be aware of her different appearance. For now she is busy crawling around the house, trying to walk by herself, learning to speak, and playing with big brother Grayson.

Katie has no doubts that her daughter will grow up confident and happy in her skin. She is reassured by the numerous messages she has received from adults with birthmarks on their faces who have had “successful, wonderful lives”.

The mum-of-two added: “I’m no more worried about her than I would be about any other child.

“It’s hard to predict what someone will be self-conscious about, but I think I’m equipping her the best way I can.

“For now I’m just excited about having a baby girl and dressing her up. I’m not going to do anything differently because she has a mark on her face.”