Module 06 · The heart of the platform
The stories are the proof.
A skin condition is a medical fact and a social one, and only one of those gets written down. Stigma does not fall to statistics. It falls to a specific person, with a name, telling you what their morning is like.
In support of Operation Smile
Esther volunteers with Operation Smile and interviews cleft patients about the scar after the surgery and the years after that. Those stories carry the badge, and a share of what this site earns goes to funding the next operation.
Want your story in the archive?
If you live with a visible skin condition and want it told properly, in your own words, write to Esther. Interviews happen by video or in person, in English, Norwegian or Korean, and nothing publishes until you have read it and said yes.
Write to EstherHow consent works
- Written, informed consent from the patient, or a parent or guardian, before any interview or photograph, with an explanation of exactly how the material will be used.
- The right to withdraw at any time, and to review the published story before it goes live.
- Images that present each person with dignity, never in pain, distress or a vulnerable moment.
- Respect for local traditions and for the wishes of the family, in line with Operation Smile's own patient-rights code.
The programme
How a story becomes a case file.
Find the people
Through Operation Smile, patient organisations, and visitors who write in because they want their story told.
Consent, properly
Written informed consent, control over photographs, the right to withdraw, a parental protocol for minors, and the process published on the site.
The interview
A structured protocol so the archive is comparable rather than a pile of anecdotes, ending with the one question that is always theirs to answer however they want.
Translate and anonymise
Transcription and translation so Norwegian, Korean, Vietnamese and English stories sit in one archive. Names are changed on request.
The case file
Every story publishes in the same shape: the person in their own words, the condition explained, and what the evidence says about what they tried.
Give it back
Every participant receives something: a camouflage session, a routine from their analysis, or the archive itself. Extraction is not research.