A girl born with a rare condition that left her face covered with fluid-filled cysts has revealed how she was cruelly mocked by thousands of strangers online before finding the confidence to embrace herself.

Indira de Rooij, 25, from Almere in the Netherlands, was born with a lymphatic malformation, a condition in which the lymphatic vessels develop abnormally and form cysts throughout the body.

Within hours of her birth, doctors realized something was wrong. The cysts had formed on her chin, tongue and throat, blocking around 70 per cent of her airway and making it difficult for her to breathe.

Emergency surgery was carried out to fit a tracheotomy tube, beginning a childhood dominated by hospitals, operations and medical appointments.

Over the years, Indira underwent more than 30 procedures to reduce the malformations. Some of the cysts were visible, while others were so small they could barely be detected.

But despite the surgeries, doctors eventually decided further operations carried too great a risk of permanent facial paralysis.

As the physical challenges continued, another battle soon emerged.

While her parents encouraged her to attend mainstream school and live as normal a life as possible, Indira began noticing strangers staring at her when she reached her early teens.

Children would take photographs without permission. People laughed, pointed and whispered.

“It was really tough on my mental health,” she recalled. “People were looking at me and laughing at me. It feels very degrading.”

The cruelty reached a devastating peak when she was 16 years old.

A stranger shared a photograph of her on Twitter, comparing her appearance to that of a movie monster with a facial disfigurement. The post attracted around 10,000 likes.

For many teenagers, such public humiliation would have been overwhelming.

“It went viral,” Indira said. “I ended up needing therapy after that.”

Yet despite years of unwanted attention, she refused to let the comments define her future.

Today, Indira works as a nurse — a career many people once believed would be impossible for someone facing the challenges she had endured.

Although she still lives with the condition and continues to use a tracheotomy tube to help her breathe, her health is now stable and she is exploring less invasive treatment options.

Most importantly, she has learned to value herself beyond her appearance.

“No matter what I look like, there will always be people who are mean,” she said. “But I have never been happier than I am now.”

Her family say they have always focused on her abilities rather than her condition.

“We wanted her to know she could achieve anything,” one relative said. “She has always been far stronger than people realize.”

Now Indira hopes her story will encourage others living with visible differences to believe in themselves.

“If you have big dreams and a disability, it doesn’t mean you can’t achieve them,” she said.

And after a lifetime of surgeries, stares and cruel comments, her story stands as a powerful reminder that true strength is not defined by appearance, but by the courage to keep moving forward when the world expects you to give up.