Not so much an event as it was a comment that I've never been able to get over.

My first serious boyfriend and I were very much in love even though he had some demons. I never thought he'd do anything to hurt me.

One time during an argument (drunken, on his part) he randomly started listing off all my physical flaws and which cosmetic surgery procedures he recommended I get. I used to be pretty content with my appearance but that idea I had of myself was shattered that night. There was one flaw in particular that I never even considered before but really stuck out when he said it. He even had to rub salt in the wound by adding that the night his friends first met me they pointed it out the second I left, and said how much better he could do. (These friends of his were never anything but warm and nice to me. I actually had come to consider them close friends of my own by this point. This was devastating to hear)

Then he tried to pass it off with "I mean you're still super cute, but just saying"

That was nearly 12 years ago. We've been broken up for about 10 years and I'm well over him but to this day that flaw is all I see when I look in the mirror. I can't stand to be from any angle other than face-on because of it. Whenever I have to walk in front of people where they see me from any other angle I always pretend have a convenient itch there so I can cover it with my hand. My default "sitting at desk" position at work has my hand resting there at all times. Every time I'm dating someone new I'm paranoid to an obsessive level that they'll see me at just the wrong angle, see the flaw, and immediately lose interest. Even if we've been dating for a while an they no doubt have seen it by then I'm convinced that all it'll take is one unflattering glance. I'm so sure that everyone will think less of me for it. When people tell me that I'm good looking or when I'm told that someone is crushing on me I just assume they're doing it to make me feel better about it.

I have regular dreams where I wake up and my face is the way it was supposed to be. I have other flaws that I've come to accept and even embrace but this is the one that gets to me all day every day and unfortunately I doubt I'll ever have the money to get it "fixed". It goes beyond being just self-conscious about something. It's something that has invaded my thoughts to even a subconscious level.