Filter me

It’s just a filter right?! A simple filter that a pretty popular Instagram user wanted to use. @holymariia decided that she would try to use a vitiligo filter on one of her pictures. She currently has 981K followers and is based in Jerusalem. I found out about her by my other following @laur_elyse. I have been following her since 2018. She has vitiligo and is a makeup artist. She actually found out about @holymariia’s post and was the first to comment on the picture. Other people agreed with Lauren. I wanted to see what the hype was all about so I took a look at the picture. It was a picture of @holymariia and yes she did have a filter of vitiligo. A filter of vitiligo. Even typing this makes me cringe. Somebody would actually use a filter to make a discoloration to their skin. I found this picture highly offensive. Why would you want to add a discoloration to your skin when people who have vitiligo strive for perfect skin? Just writing about this is making my vitiligo act up! I had commented on her photo and there were numerous people who were begging her to take this photo down. I checked this morning and the photo was still up. I just don’t understand the meaning of the photo. She states that she did the photo to raise awareness. What kind of awareness are you raising other than being insensitive to an auto-immune condition?! I am utterly appalled by this photo and how she would think that it would be cute. I try my best to cover every part of my vitiligo. Currently my eyebrows and eyelashes are changing to a super white color. I make sure to pluck every one of these out. I do my best to use makeup on my face where the vitiligo is prominent. What’s the big deal you ask? It comes down to feeling comfortable in your on skin. It comes down tot he fact hat vitiligo is not accepted by many people. Yes, Whinnie Harlow has brought vitiligo to the fashion scene and has shown that she can model with it but how about the reality of it. Most people are not a model and most people who have vitiligo have other health issues as well. I guess I am just upset that a filter would be used that is an auto-immune condition that has no cure. I know writing on her will not change anything but I was really struck but the insensitivity of a media influencer.