Psoriasis, which causes your skin cells to grow faster than they can mature, affects about 7.5 million people. Yet in a world where skin is photoshopped smooth, many of those affected still feel ashamed for having it. But musician Moira Dela Torre will no longer be hiding her psoriasis anymore, in an effort to get one step closer toward feeling beautiful with it (which she should feel, in our opinion.)
She recently posted a photo onto Facebook of her bare legs and psoriasis on full display.
"Insecurity: I have psoriasis," she wrote in the caption. "No cure for it, just treatments that may or may not help at all."
Ever since high school, once the weather becomes colder and drier, or if she's stressed, her psoriasis flares up.
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"It became a source of anxiety to me that I didn't realize how hard I had been trying to cover it up ... "
" … and how exhausted I've become of hiding," she told Yahoo.
She would cover her psoriasis in all different sorts of creams or foundations, or wear sweatshirts and pants if she were feeling lazy.
"I remember always looking at other girls with deep envy, wishing I had their skin, wishing I had their legs so I wouldn't have to hide all the time," she wrote on Facebook.
Sometimes it even inhibits her confidence when she performs.
But the other day, Dela Torres was wearing a dress when she noticed her psoriasis in the mirror, and instead of changing, she decided to keep it on.
When she first looked in the mirror, she broke down crying. "All the pain and exhaustion from all the hiding and efforts of trying to cure it just came out of nowhere," she wrote.
Then she realized she had enough of feeling ashamed over her body. "I showed up at work in a dress, for the first time, fully conscious of the marks on my legs and decided … I'm not gonna hide anymore," she added.
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"I'm no longer gonna let this condition place me in a level of shame and weakness but of strength," she said in her post.
She now refuses to let people's judgments about her psoriasis be "the basis for my security," she continued.
But it's still a process, and although she still doesn't fully feel beautiful, it's still a brave step in the right direction. "I've learned that we don't have to feel brave to be brave," she wrote.
She might still be on her way toward full self-acceptance, but she hopes sharing her start with others will encourage them to do the same.
