See The Black Woman 'Who Is Turning Completely WHITE' With A Case Called Vitiligo. (Photos)

· Iomikoe Johnson, 37, from Louisiana first noticed spot of white skin at 25

· Would spend hour a day covering patches with make-up and wore long sleeves

· Fiancé told her she was beautiful and persuaded her to throw away make-up

· Is now a model and hopes to empower other people with condition.

A grandmother has bared all to show that 'beauty is beyond skin' after learning to embrace the vitiligo which will one day turn her skin completely white and previously left her suicidal.

Model, business owner, and mother-of-four Iomikoe Johnson, 37, from Lake Charles, Louisiana first noticed a tiny spot of white skin under her arm 12-years ago.

At first, she thought she had cancer but it then spread to her eyes and genital area.

At just 25-years-old, Iomikoe was scared that she would be bullied for being 'two different colours' after spending her childhood being taunted for having dark skin.

Iomikoe contemplated taking her own life as strangers would stare at her in the streets with some even refusing to shake her hand.

She would spend up to an hour a day on her makeup to cover up and would only wear long sleeved clothes.

It wasn't until her fiancé Phillip told her that he loved her no matter what that she decided to ditch the makeup bag.

1 Model, business owner, and mother-of-four Iomikoe Johnson, 37, from Lake Charles, Louisiana has finally managed to embrace her vitiligo.

2. With the support of her family, Iomikoe has found the confidence to stop covering up with make-up and wearing long sleeved tops.

3. The condition started when Iomikoe was 25, and began with small white patches of skin on her arms.

Fiance Philip helped mother-of-four Iomike feel beautiful again after her vitiligo left her feeling suicidal.

5. Now Iomike is a model and wants the world to see her body as art, walking human art.

'I got vitiligo when I was twenty-five years old and i'll never forget it, I was devastated, I felt like my world had been shattered.'she said..

'My first spot was under my arm where no one could see. When I was a kid, I used to get bullied for having dark skin and now I'm two different colours, so I feared I would have to re-live that experience all over again.

'It was painful and devastating I even thought of taking my own life many times, but I had kids which kept me going.

'People used to look at my hands and not want to touch me and they didn't want to shake my hand. People stared and said very mean, disrespectful things to me and children were afraid of me.

I didn't know what this was, I thought it was cancer at first. I was scared and very emotionally depressed I didn't know what was going on with my body, my parents were also concerned but told me no matter what they will always love me and they told me not to worry.'

Iomikoe has four children and two grandchildren and says that despite initially being petrified of her vitiligo, she loves being different and wouldn't be able to exist without it.

She admits that her family encouraged her to embrace it and she's now a model and wants the world to see her body as art, walking human art.

'Well it would take me forty-five minutes to an hour to put makeup on to cover spots and it was becoming very tiring,' she explained.

'My fiancé told me that I didn't need to do it anymore because he loves me no matter if I wore makeup or not. One day I woke up and I saw this picture on my Facebook of Winnie Harlow, the vitiligo model and I was like oh my god she's so beautiful.

'She has the same skin disease as me and she embraced her beauty so I thought why shouldn't I do the same.

'I woke up one day and I didn't put on any makeup and since that day I haven't worn makeup I was tired of people defining what they think is beautiful and it was my job to show them that beauty is beyond skin.

6. Now she's learned to love her white patches.

7. The mother-of-four now sees vitiligo as her suit of armour and feels 'absolutely freaking gorgeous.

8. The model wants other people with the skin condition to realise they are 'spotted with a purpose' and feel beautiful in their own skin.

WHAT IS VITILIGO?

Vitiligo occurs when the cells that produce melanin, the pigment that determines the color of skin, die or stop functioning.

This causes slowly enlarging white patches of irregular shapes to appear on the skin over time.

Vitiligo affects all races, but may be more noticeable in people with darker skin.

The exact cause of the condition is unknown, although many experts believe that it is an autoimmune condition in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys certain cells.

There is no cure and the goal of treatment, which can include ointments and skin grafts, is to stop or slow the progression of pigment loss.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4738832/Grandmother-vitiligo-model.html#ixzz4ohMEIHPC

#WorldForeign