Ros has been hiding her birthmark for the past 20 years

As a child and teenager she suffered psychological trauma caused by standing out from the crowd - and decided the best approach was to hide behind heavy make up.

Now an air stewardess, she finally decided to try to overcome her fear - and pluck up the courage to remove the make up she has relied on for so long.

Her story is featured in an episode of the BBC television programme One Life.

"I never show my birthmark to people because I'm afraid they'll find it repulsive," she said.

"I've had so many years of walking into a room and everyone staring and gawping.

Unhappy childhood

"I don't ever go out the house without wearing my camouflage makeup, I'm frightened to open the door to the postman. I will hide in my bedroom if people come round.

"I haven't been dealing with it."

Port wine birthmarks are caused by small blood vessels not draining properly, so that the blood pools just under the skin. It leaves a painless bright red or purple mark.

Ros was embarrassed even as a small child

According to Ros, three in every 100 babies are born with it and its occurrence is twice as common in girls.

Ros was so affected by her birthmark she only let around half the people she knows in on her secret.

A conversation with her parents reveals an unhappy childhood.

"I don't think I was the perfect child my parents had hoped for," she says before going to meet them.

As young as two and a half the birthmark was already having a serious effect on her. She was afraid to even look at a camera.

Her mother remembers how at the age of four, Ros's hair was coming out in big clumps from the stress.

During the show, Ros met Alexander, a three year old with a vivid strawberry mark, and Laura, a 14-year old with a small port wine stain.

While Ros is amazed at Alexander's nonchalance over his birthmark, she is reminded through Laura of her troubles as a teenager.

"I was called everything from ketchup face to beetroot face to 'err, what's that?'

"I remember being painfully shy, my dad told me I used to hide behind his legs."

Treatment

At 18 Ros was introduced to camouflage make up, an oil based, highly pigmented make-up that can cover anything from tattoos to birthmarks.

Camouflage makeup transformed her life, giving her the confidence to help her achieve her dream of being a dancer.

She began laser treatment thirteen years ago, and has since had 18 treatments.

Ros looks in the mirror at her birthmark

Laser treatment works by firing shots of intense light to destroy faulty blood vessels under the skin, but because her stain goes very deep, she will never be able to get rid of it completely.

By the age of 30 laser treatment had faded her birthmark, and her confidence grew again.

Ros decided to become an air stewardess. She felt she had to do it to prove it to herself, to do such an image related job.

"Passengers see a confident, perfectly made up air stewardess, but under my makeup the birthmark is still there, and I'm too scared to show it."

Ros eventually meets Natalie, a journalist in her early thirties who also has a large port wine stain on her face. The two look so alike they could almost be sisters.

Overcoming fear

However Natalie has never felt the need to cover up her birthmark, and actually likes it.

She tells Ros her father once caught her looking in the mirror stroking it - she thought it made her look prettier than the other girls.

Meeting Natalie is a revelation to Ros, and challenges her to ask why she is so persistent in covering up her mark.

Natalie has never concealed her birthmark

Her biggest fear is that once she takes off the makeup, people will only see the birthmark.

"It's like taking my clothes off, that's what it would feel like."

However Ros is finally inspired to take her makeup off in the shopping mall.

"I've got such mixed emotions, I'm feeling excited and vulnerable, all at the same time."

She realises there aren't that many people staring at her after all.

"I feel really strange that I've done it.

"I feel liberated...I feel chuffed to bits that I've done it."

Now she's set the ball in motion, she feels confident to face the public, barefaced.