A mum who previously faced fierce criticism after laser treating a large mole on her baby’s face has defended her controversial choice – and revealed her son has gone a milestone six weeks without a seizure.
Brooke Atkins, 34, from the Gold Coast, Queensland, noticed that her second child, a boy named Kingsley, now 22 months old, was born with a large Port Wine Stain (PWS) birthmark covering half his face.
When stay-at-home mum Brooke and her partner Kewene Wallace, 28, decided to laser the mark when Kingsley was around six months old, she was branded a ‘monster’ by cruel online trolls.
Although the spots are usually harmless, if they cover the eye they can lead to both glaucoma and Sturge Weber syndrome, which causes seizures.
Kingsley was diagnosed with both, but the laser treatment to lighten and improve the overall skin of the birthmark helped immensely, reducing the toddler’s risk of further complications.
Baby Kingsley (pictured before his birthmark was lasered away) was diagnosed with glaucoma and Sturge Weber syndrome, which causes seizures
The boy is now 22 months old (pictured) and has reached a milestone of six weeks without seizures
Mum Brooke (pictured) was heavily criticized after using the treatment on Kingsley (pictured), but she says it has improved his health
The decision to go ahead with laser treatment last year was a good one, according to mother Brook (pictured with Kingsley), who says her son is ‘doing great’
In a new milestone, his mother revealed that he recently went seizure-free for six weeks – the longest period since his seizures started in October 2022.
Now that her son is doing well, the mother has no regrets about continuing with the treatment.
“Kinglsey is doing great,” Brooke said.
‘Two months ago he had a laser treatment, his first treatment under general anesthesia, because he is too big and too conscious to wake up now.
‘His face has responded wonderfully to the laser and we have been seizure free for five weeks.
‘He has also just had his third eye surgery for his glaucoma, which seems to be a success so far.’
Despite the negative reactions she received online after sharing Kingsley’s story, Brooke has defended the decision.
She said: ‘I think if anything is available online it will unfortunately attract criticism.
According to Brooke, going public about it, despite the fact that the treatment has helped her son, attracts judgmental comments.
When baby Kingsley was first born (pictured), the mark was barely visible, but soon became more noticeable
Despite his difficult times, baby Kingsley (pictured during his treatment) is described as a happy and sweet baby
According to mother Brooke, the laser treatment has even been called ‘abuse’, despite the medical benefits
‘(Recently) we started getting all these negative judgmental reactions again from people who didn’t understand why we were using the laser.
“(They said) things like ‘that’s terrible, that’s abuse’, ‘wow, some people don’t deserve children and it’s so sad that they don’t love them for who they are’, and ‘vanity is bad’.
“It no longer upsets me like it used to.
‘However, it makes me angry that they don’t bother to educate themselves about port wine stain birthmarks and jump to conclusions.
‘I do my best to teach them why we do laser treatment at such a young age.
Despite his health problems, baby Kingsley (pictured here with his sister Armani) is the “happiest, most loving and sweetest boy you will ever meet,” according to mom Brooke
Mum-of-two Brooke (pictured with her children) says if you don’t have anything nice to say, it’s best to say nothing at all
Brooke and her partner Kewene Wallace (pictured, far left and left) said the decision to go ahead with the laser was ‘difficult’
However, the parents say that when challenged about the port mark treatment, they point out that “this will give him the best chance of not adding to his long list of medical problems that he already has.”
In an effort to educate other parents, Brooke shares updates of Kingsley’s treatments with approximately 50,000 online followers
“I tell them this will give him the best chance of not adding to the long list of medical problems he already has.
‘And if they react rudely to it, I do my best not to tell them what I really think, but sometimes that’s hard.
“If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything.”
Brooke and partner Kewene Wallace, 28 – with whom she shares three-year-old daughter Amarni – made the difficult decision to try laser treatment in May 2022.
Last year she said: ‘The only way to treat a port wine stain is with laser treatments and the most effective laser for that is a Pulsed Dye Laser.
‘When he was first born, we were referred to the dermatology and vascular department at Queensland Children’s Hospital where they organized the initial treatment and explained in more detail why laser would be important.
‘The aim of the laser treatments is not to ‘remove’ the birthmark, but to keep the skin healthy to prevent further damage to the area.’
Treatment remains necessary once or twice a year for maintenance.
Brooke will continue to update her 46,000 followers and share Kingsley’s progress as he continues to thrive.
She added: ‘He is the happiest, most loving and sweetest boy you will ever meet!’