When the wealthy couple saw their newborn’s face, the mother gasped, “Take him away, he’s a monster.” They abandoned him at the hospital. A kind nurse raised him. Twenty years later, the couple desperately needed a rare surgery. The world-famous surgeon walked in, revealed his birthmark, and…

from me, kiddo,” I would say softly, sitting on the edge of a hospital bed, letting a terrified five-year-old trace the deep red stain on my face. “I know exactly how heavy it feels. But we’re going to fix the outside, because the inside is already perfect.”

By the time I finished my chief residency, I was being courted by the most elite, high-profile continue reading …