Kingsley was born in January 2022 on Australia’s Gold Coast with a large port-wine stain covering much of one side of his face. Within days, specialists were already investigating. Early brain scans looked reassuring, but an eye exam found dangerously high pressure in the affected eye: glaucoma. Before he was two months old he had undergone procedures under anesthesia, including placement of a drainage implant. Further testing confirmed Sturge-Weber syndrome—a rare condition of abnormal blood vessels that can involve skin, eyes, and brain and bring seizures. Doctors also recommended pulsed-dye laser treatment for the stain itself.

His mother, Brooke Atkins, and partner Kewene Wallace followed that plan and shared fragments of the journey online. A few seconds of video were enough for strangers to call her a monster, an abuser, “brainwashed.” Some assumed she was erasing a harmless mark because she disliked how it looked. One person told her to “put her son down.”

The medical reality is different. Port-wine stains do not fade with age; they often darken, thicken, and can form cobblestone texture or bleeding blebs. When they involve the forehead and eyelid, guidelines call for screening for glaucoma and Sturge-Weber. Laser therapy targets the abnormal dermal vessels to keep the skin healthier and easier to treat later; it is not a cosmetic whim. Kingsley has had multiple laser sessions (later under general anesthetic as he grew), at least three eye operations, and more than a hundred seizures. By age three the deep purple mark had faded to a faint undertone many people would never notice.

Brooke has said she would never put her children through treatment that was not medically indicated. The Sturge-Weber Foundation later featured her story as an example of a parent who refused to let online contempt override specialist advice.

The clip that drew the insults showed only the two minutes of a baby crying under a laser. It did not show the glaucoma implant, the MRI with contrast, the seizure logs, or the reason Queensland Children’s Hospital recommended the light in the first place. The part of a story that is judged fastest is often the part that is understood least.

Sources

• Sky News Australia, 7NEWS, Daily Mail, The Mirror, and The Sun coverage of Brooke Atkins and Kingsley (2022–2025)
• Sturge-Weber Foundation patient story featuring Brooke Atkins
• Australasian College of Dermatologists and consensus statements on port-wine stains and Sturge-Weber syndrome management