Pakistan’s first model with vitiligo is a perfect blend of beauty, brains and confidence

Javeria Raheel is a professional photographer, model, Instagram influencer and YouTuber from Pakistan and she has vitiligo as well.

Ideally, vitiligo, being a non-contagious skin condition, should not matter here and there is no need to talk about it when Javeria as a person has so much more to offer.

But, we all know that a chronic visible skin condition that affects the appearance of a person brings a significant amount of stigma and emotional stress.

So, it becomes important to discuss and celebrate the life journey of amazing superwomen like Javeria keeping vitiligo at the center stage so that young girls, women and men living in Pakistan and across the world and struggling to accept their unique appearance can feel empowered and motivated.

One of the hardest things to do in life is to accept your authentic self and be confident in your own skin.

But once you develop this attitude, it brings you a new lease of life where nothing seems impossible to you.

This unconditional self-love and self-acceptance makes people like Javeria stand out from others and become a rising star.

You just have to accept yourself wholeheartedly and that’s it, vitiligo becomes a non issue for you. People with vitiligo often ask me the secret behind my confidence and my answer remains the same ‘accept yourself as you are’. Once you do that, you become unstoppable.

How did it all start?

It started when Javeria was only 4 years old. One day her mother noticed a white spot on her knee when she was changing her clothes and asked her if she stumbled upon something or hurt herself. As Javeria replied with a no, her mother took her to the nearby clinic where she was diagnosed with vitiligo.

Javeria has a family history of vitiligo with her grandmother also having this skin condition. So, her parents were aware of the progressive nature of vitiligo and tried to get it sorted out before it could spread to other parts of her body.

The medicine prescribed by the dermatologist was a powerful corticosteroid which may have side effects. Actually the doctor didn’t reveal it to us but it’s just that her mother noticed that it’s the same medicine that was prescribed to her maternal grandmother after her brain tumor surgery. It didn’t go well with her family that the 4 year old Javeria be treated with an anti-cancer drug.

So they stopped that treatment immediately and looked for a better alternative.

Her family tried all sorts of treatments, be it modern medicines, homeopathy, herbal and home remedies and even visiting shrines and mosques, but nothing helped. In fact, the vitiligo was spreading pretty quickly in her case.

It was way too much for little Javeria to keep up with the treatments, changing doctors and hospitals. If it was not enough, there were people and their behaviors to make it even harder for her.

In 3rd and 4th standard, when everyone used to wear frocks, Javeria used to wear tights because she was very much insecure about her knees. Whenever she used to wear frocks, she constantly fidgeted and adjusted it so that the spots on the knees could be concealed.

After exhausting almost all the treatment options in Karachi with no encouraging results, she just wanted to stop trying because she was too tired to keep up with this lifestyle. Her parents also agreed because the treatment was doing no good, but making her life stressed and tiresome.

With the pace vitiligo was spreading, they hoped that one day soon vitiligo may turn her skin completely white (fully de-pigmented) and it would be better than having a patchy skin.

Next 1 to 2 years went smooth as she was not bothering about vitiligo and living a normal, restriction-free life. But then, something happened that added to her hardships.

The incident that made things harder for her

Javeria was in 6th standard when she got selected as the vice captain for the sports team in her school. Being a sports lover, she was excited and didn’t bother to put on the sunscreen presuming that nothing would happen but it backfired. She got her face sunburned and skin started to peel off.

It took a long time to heal and then the she developed dark spots around the face as a reaction.

It was no less than a setback to her that everything was going smooth and suddenly she had messed it up.

Anyways, she has always been a fighter, so she picked up the pieces and started again.

She stopped playing outdoor sports completely and pursued her interest in photography, singing and crafting.

Her journey of self-acceptance

Gradually, as Javeria got involved in her routine life focusing on the studies and hobbies, vitiligo became a part of her life that wouldn’t bother much.

She got used to of her uneven skin tone and would not hate it or feel bad looking in the mirror.

She became less sensitive of people’s reactions and instead began to concentrate more on the positives in her life.

This subtle progress in the journey towards self-acceptance yielded her good results.

She got fame in her school for being multi talented, even with a skin condition. She was really good at everything, an all rounder to be precise. Everyone around her was really moved by the fact that she didn’t let her condition stop her from following her aspirations. She participated in many school events and won a few singing and art competitions and also got straight A’s in her exams.

I looked for the positives in my life instead of kept crying for vitiligo. This attitude really helped me identify my talent for photography and I started earning at a young age as a professional photographer. It boosted my confidence getting more comfortable with my appearance.

Javeria’s family support cannot be ignored here. Her family never treated her indifferently or tend to be over protective about her. She was treated just like a normal child and made to face her share of struggle which ultimately helped her build this resilient and confident personality that she is today.

Javeria’s journey as a photographer, model and a YouTuber

As her photography career was flourishing, she started sharing her work on Instagram and it was well received by the people. Then she started sharing her own photos on Instagram to raise awareness about vitiligo and to become even more comfortable with her unique appearance.

The ad agencies looking for fresh faces noticed her unique attraction quotient and offered her modeling assignments to promote diversity and inclusivity. That’s how she entered the world of modeling and she is enjoying it thoroughly.

She runs a YouTube channel also sharing all sorts of happenings in her professional and personal life.

It’s ok to feed sad sometimes, says Javeria

The ‘superwoman’ Javeria do feel sad and down sometimes and would seek answers to questions like ‘why me?’

There used to be days when she would not feel going outside and face people’s stares and comments. But as she has accepted her skin (and her whole life), she has learnt to accept those moments of sadness as well.

Now, those days of breaking down do not happen that frequently anymore.

It’s okay to be sad sometimes. After all, we all are humans and we have emotions. Just the way we accept our skin, we have to accept those emotions also. Once you accept something, the negativity associated with that thing loses its power.

Javeria’s message to the society

Please do not show sympathy to them because they really don’t need it. Vitiligo is neither harmful nor contagious; it just gives uneven skin tone to the affected person. So, people with vitiligo are as talented and capable like anyone else and deserve to be treated as normal.

They just need a fair chance in a non-judgmental environment to prove their worth.

When the people whispers to each other staring at their skin, click their photos without their consent or give unsolicited advice, it really doesn’t go in good taste at all.

So, she asks everyone out there to please stop doing these things and give people with different appearance some space to breathe and live a normal life.

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A post shared by Javeria Raheel (@javeriaraheel_)

Her thoughts for the vitiligo community

According to Javeria, to feel confident in one’s own skin is what matters at the end of the day.

Others opinions won’t matter once you accept yourself.

It does not make sense to hate something which is very much a part of your life. Things might seem hard but it will get better once you accept your uniqueness.

People do so many things to develop a unique identity because it’s attractive. I am lucky in that sense to have a naturally unique personality that makes me attractive.