College student, 18, born with no TOE NAILS reveals how she overcame her insecurities

A woman who was born without toe nails on her left foot has revealed how she went from feeling like an outcast to being toe-tally in love with herself.

Annabelle Anderson, 18, spent her youth lying and hiding the fact that she had no toe nails, however, since posting candid clips of herself online, she has gained a newfound self-confidence.

The Tennessee-based college student felt insecure about her feet her entire life, but by positing videos, she began feeling better about herself. 

Now, Annabelle said that by seeing the other people online who struggle with the same issue as her, she feels less alone. 

She explained: 'I did used to feel alone. When I was little, I could never find anyone that looked like me.

'Posting the videos actually really helped with my confidence, because half the comments were obviously about my feet.'

While Annabelle was in the womb, she stated that she suffered from what is known as amniotic band syndrome, which is where the fibre spans of the amniotic sac can get wrapped around different parts of the body and cut off circulation.

Annabelle told how in her case the fibre wrapped around her left foot, which caused her to lose some bones and her toe nails.

Despite stating she was not extremely insecure about her foot, the 18-year-old used to tell people fake stories as to why she was toe-nail-less.

She explained: 'When I was in middle school, I told a bunch of people different stories about why I had no toenails because I guess I just got bored of telling the same story.

'I told one girl that I put peanut butter on my toes, and my dog licked them off.

'I would tell other people that I like that I got attacked when I was little.' 

She also shared that despite her insecurities, she is grateful her condition isn't worse.  

'I'm really lucky because, in a lot of cases, it's a lot worse.

'The doctors didn't really know what it was at first, and my parents were really concerned that I wasn't going to be able to walk or anything, but I can walk, run, and dance — I'm super grateful,' the 18-year-old shared. 

After discovering a community of people who share the same condition as her, the college student got a confidence boost.  

'In my freshman year of high school, I started getting tagged in this video, like a million times, so I looked at it, and it was a video of this girl showing how she also had no toenails.

'Her foot looked identical to mine, so I sent her a message on Instagram, and ever since then, we've been talking, and we had a bunch of conversations about it.

'It was really crazy, because I thought I was literally the only one in the world with a foot that looked like that, but then I found my twin.

'That's basically what inspired me to start making the videos after seeing hers and how she wasn't insecure about it and how she felt so comfortable,' she explained. 

And soon after posting her first video, Annabelle gained viral success.  

She said: 'After my first video went viral, I started getting a ton of messages from people also saying they had no toenails. 

'They basically would send the same message that I sent to her, being like, This is so weird, but we had the same foot.'

Annabelle noted that seeing others without toenails made her feel more comfortable in her own skin. 

'It's so cool to see that there are so many other people like me out there. It kept inspiring me to make videos.

'A lot of people said that it made them feel more confident, so that definitely gave me motivation because I would never want anybody to feel insecure or ashamed about having no toenails,' she added. 

Now, Annabelle noted that she isn't sure why she was ever insecure about her condition. 

'It seems like such a silly thing. It's just a part of who I am. It's what makes me unique. There's no reason to be ashamed of it or feel bad about it,' she said.