A girl from Slough, Berkshire, was born with a unique facial feature that made her stand out. The attention she got wasn’t pleasant or affirming, leading to her parents choosing a drastic method to correct it
Before Connie Lloyd was born in Slough, Berkshire, a 26-week scan showed an unexplained shadow on her nose. However, when she was welcomed in September 2008, she looked healthy without any apparent issues.
By the time she was a day old, Zara Green and Tom Lloyd noticed that she had a pronounced red mark on the tip of her tiny nose. The couple initially assumed it was a pressure mark left behind from the delivery.
However, two weeks later, the mark had darkened and become lumpy, but they were told it was a common birthmark. When she was a month old, the spot had grown by one and a half inches in diameter
Green recalled how amazed they were when they saw their daughter’s nose and that she looked different, but they still knew it was little Connie. The couple’s general practitioner referred them to the Great Ormond Street Hospital, where they saw a specialist.
Their daughter was diagnosed with a benign tumor called haemangioma. The little girl had to struggle with having a bright red “clown’s nose” – something she didn’t choose – fully evident when she was four weeks old, and the birthmark was growing internally too.
Green’s daughter found it difficult to look different and only wished to look more like her mother. Her parents didn’t know that without the mark, Connie was destined to grow up to be a gorgeous young girl years later.
How Did Connie’s Looks Change?
Connie endured being teased, taunted, and called names from birth because of her condition. Green dreaded her child being chosen to play Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer in a Christmas play because of Connie’s rare condition that didn’t have a cure.
The tumor’s growth left her parents “constantly worried” because doctors said she could bleed to death if she cut or grazed the mark. Tom and his partner found treatments that stopped the tumor from growing more prominent, but nothing could eliminate it.
In 2011, Connie became the eighth baby in the United Kingdom (UK) to try using Propranolol to stop the tumor from growing larger. The prescribed medicine was usually used for people who had heart conditions.
When the little girl was 18 months old, she told her mother she didn’t like her nose, which was difficult for Green to hear. The parent wanted to do more for her child, and her daughter’s adverse reactions at preschool eventually pushed her to act.
She and Tom started looking for second opinions and options for removing the birthmark. Connie’s mother noted how the other children in her daughter’s playgroup because curious about her condition and would prod it, which the little girl found “very upsetting.”
During a final class picture, the school photographer even asked Green if they could airbrush out their daughter’s birthmark! The parent found the request offensive because Connie was who she was, and they loved every bit of her.
When the child’s mother realized her daughter would spend all her school years going through that torture, she knew they had to do something soon. She and her partner searched until they found Dr. Iain Hutchison, a surgeon specializing in treating facial disfigurements.
In March 2011, he operated on little Connie to remove the tumor and left her with a small scar, despite the procedure not being recommended for children under ten. Green confessed that before having surgery, her baby had been shy around people who commented on her nose and pointed to it. The little girl even turned her head because of how self-conscious she was.
Visiting Hutchison was also a nightmare for the family and their child, and her mother would hide her in the car to prevent people from making mean comments. Tom’s partner said waiting for hours for Connie’s surgery to conclude felt like the most extended wait ever.
However, the results were fantastic when the little girl returned, saying her “nose was like her mom’s.” Connie was doing well and had attracted a large group of friends, leaving her parents feeling proud!
However, the student brushed the nasty comments off…
By 2013, Green still wondered what her daughter’s schooling would’ve been like if she hadn’t received the surgery. The parent mulled over whether her child would’ve felt comfortable and if making friends would’ve come easily to her.
What Is Connie’s Life like Today?
By December 2021, Connie was 13 and was working as an advocate to raise awareness for a birthmark charity in the UK, Saving Faces. Her parents were wrongly informed that her mark would fade when she was younger, but it got bigger and darker as she aged.
Despite the surgery, Green said her daughter was still teased, but she was empowering herself by using her experience to help others. Part of the reason why Connie had the surgery at age two to remove her tumor was that she started struggling to breathe, with her mother stating this about her heroic child:
“If by telling her story, Connie can help just one child or family cope with facial disfigurement, that’ll be the best Christmas present ever.”
As she’s grown, Tom’s daughter shows a surprisingly mature attitude to her scar, despite other children choosing to be unnecessarily cruel. Connie didn’t physically have the red mark anymore, but since we live in the age of the internet, her school friends and other people could still find her childhood pictures online.
Green revealed that even as a teenager, her daughter still had bullies who came up to her and shouted “Rudolph” at school. However, the student brushed the nasty comments off, with her mother saying:
“She owns her scar and is happy and confident just the way she is.”
User comment dated August 21, 2022 | Source: Facebook/Connie Lloyd
She was now putting her focus on raising awareness about birthmarks and raising funds for the charity that was dedicated to the reduction of facial injuries. Connie’s mother revealed that she only wanted everyone to feel loved in the skin they were and equal.
In August 2022, Connie shared a Facebook photo of herself posing in the backseat of a car with sunglasses on and a pout. Her nose scar was barely visible, and one supportive follower described her as “gorgeous.”
Months later, in December 2022, Green’s daughter uploaded another black-and-white image of herself. In the Facebook post, she wore glasses, a jacket, a shirt, and a tie, and she looked like she was pouting.
The same follower who called her “gorgeous” in her August post used the same word to describe her, and Connie replied with gratitude. Another person used the same word to describe the teenager’s looks, while a third thought the young girl looks “so pretty.”
User comments dated December 13, 2022 | Source: Facebook/Connie Lloyd
In 2011, Green shared how she and her partner had no regrets about getting surgery for their daughter, noting how they “100 percent” knew they wanted to do it for their child. She hoped when their child matured she’d thank them for the operation.
Tom’s partner confessed that they had no idea what would’ve been left of Connie’s nose or how bad the scaring would be, but they considered the risks thoroughly. Seeing their little child in a hospital bed left them distressed, but when they saw the results, they were thrilled.
Green thought her daughter looked like a different child but knew it was little Connie. The parent hoped other mothers knew that treatment was a possibility and encouraged them to go out looking for it.
