Hi all,
This is my first time on this forum. I wish I had of found it sooner. I'm a 30yo male with a facial vascular malformation birthmark. I've had a number of surgeries and treatments throughout my life that have improved my health but my cheek and lip are still obviously different(swollen) and asymmetric to say the least (just to add, I hear all the time that part of what humans find attractive is symmetry in a biological sense unfortunately). I've never really given myself a chance with the opposite sex until I turned 29, which is horribly sad/pathetic and depressing in itself. But I did succeed in taking a couple girls out on several dates since then.
I just cannot ever bring myself to kiss them....It just seems too awkward and all I think of is the horrible experiences of people being grossed out by the way I look. It's just a split second thing to do but I can't bring myself to do it.
I've been stared at, bullied, made fun of just like many of us here but I've never been more frustrated and disappointed in myself. I feel like I put in all this work of being vulnerable but I just can't reach the top of the mountain. I went to University for years and never graduated. All that work and hard earned money for nothing. The fact that I can't be comfortable intimately reminds me of School..All that work for nothing... Don't get me wrong I enjoy getting to know them and spending time with them but omg. Like where is the playbook for deformed people and intimacy?!
Anyway I'm frustrated, disappointed and hopeless.