A TEENAGER who was dubbed "ugly" and suffered years of cruel taunts for a 2cm birthmark on her forehead is in the final of a modelling competition.

A TEENAGER who was dubbed "ugly" and suffered years of cruel taunts for a 2cm birthmark on her forehead is in the final of a modelling competition.

Natasha Lam, 19, was driven to have the blemish removed after being regularly reduced to tears by the playground taunts.

But despite six years of bullying the beautiful dental nurse is now hoping to break into the modelling world.

Natasha, from Colchester, said: “It's a bit of an ugly duckling story really.

“I had my birthmark removed and decided I wanted to get my hair cut and lose some weight and my confidence has rocketed.

“Although the bullying was a horrible experience I think it made me a better person, it made me much stronger.”

Natasha was born with a brown birthmark in the middle of her forehead which attracted the attention of the playground bullies from the age of six.

She said: “As I grew up so did my birthmark and kids used to be really, really nasty about it.

“When I got to secondary school things got worse, I was called ugly all the time. I used to wear a big side fringe to try and cover it and for years I wore a baseball cap which boys used to pull off my head and run around with.

“People would suddenly stop being my friend because of my tormentors. They would draw pictures of me in the misty windows on the school bus with a big spot.

“I even had text messages from people with a smiley face but they had put a full stop above the eyes to look like my birthmark.

“I came into school one day and a group of about 10 girls I thought were my friends had all drawn birthmarks on their forehead with eye-liner pens.”

Natasha tried to persuade doctors to remove her birthmark and eventually at the age of 15 she had surgery to get rid of it.

She said: “Straight away my life got better. I didn't have to have a fringe anymore, I had my hair cut how I wanted it. I was able to go out without being teased and I felt I could change my life.

“I decided to lose some weight. I weighed 10.5 stone at school and now I'm eight and a half stone and I'm a size eight.”

Natasha's new look and new found confidence have landed her a spot in the final of a modelling competition called Miss Essex FM.

She said: “It's funny to think about being a model because I've always had an issue with the way I look but it would be wonderful to win.”