Facebook Banned Her Photo. So She Started This Selfie Challenge.

When Mighty contributor Lisa Goodman-Helfand tried to promote her personal blog, “Comfortable in My Thick Skin,” on Facebook, her ad was banned because of the photos she’d chosen, one of them being a closeup of her face. Goodman-Helfand has scleroderma, a chronic disease that causes hardening and tightening of the skin and connective tissues, according to the Mayo Clinic. There’s no known cause or cure, and even though the disease affects about 300,000 Americans, not many people are familiar with it.

According to Goodman-Helfand, Facebook said the photo, which also featured a friend with scleroderma, focused on a specific body part and that images like this “typically receive high negative feedback.” Only after the story gained traction on Yahoo Canada did Facebook reverse its decision, saying the ad was “mistakenly disapproved.”

Goodman-Helfand wanted their faces to illustrate how scleroderma affects people differently. And after this incident, she realized more people needed to see the faces of this disease, so she started the Face Off For Scleroderma campaign Sunday.

Goodman-Helfand is calling on anyone, not just those with scleroderma, to post a selfie on social media, makeup-free with the hashtag #sclerodermaselfies. While she wants to raise awareness for the disease, she also hopes to promote positive body image for everyone.

“This is about showing the world that beauty comes in all forms and we should not allow society to define beauty for us,” Goodman-Hellfand wrote on her blog.

While many users have taken to Twitter and Instagram with their scleroderma selfies, former “Full House” and “America’s Funniest Home Video” star Bob Saget promoted the campaign on Facebook.

Families from all over have also shown their support.

Men posted makeup free photos, too.

#sclerodermaselfies Take your face off for Scleroderma and donate to the cause at http://t.co/SsKCwySRBq. pic.twitter.com/sIQQ08Wsjt

— John Verdico (@johnvco) August 10, 2015

Join in on the movement and post your selfie today. Here are Goodman-Helfand’s instructions:

Take a selfie of yourself without any makeup on (girls, boys, and men — you are encouraged to participate).
To learn more about how this campaign started, click here.
Scroll down to find the details on how to donate and make a donation, if you have the means to do so.
Copy and paste the message below (only the text that is underlined should be copied and pasted) with a picture of your bare face (no makeup) on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or any other social media that I don’t even know exists. If you do all three, that will give the campaign the most “points “ for the hashtag. Make sure to include your new bare-faced selfie with the following message:

#sclerodermaselfies I’m going bare for scleroderma in honor of the more than 400,000 patients who suffer from this rare disease. I nominate (tag a friend), (tag a friend) and (tag a friend) to take their face off for scleroderma and keep the chain going by nominating three more friends. Go to www.comfortableinmythickskin.com to make a donation, learn more about the campaign, and the bare face that started it all.

*We want everyone to participate; men and kids’ bare selfies send the same important message! Anyone not comfortable posting a bare selfie is still encouraged to join in. We want to show that all faces have a place on Facebook.