A specialist volunteer is helping patients to camouflage scars and skin conditions as part of a “life-changing” service, which will be kept in Cumbria after previously suffering from funding cuts.

The service, which is provided as part of the Cumbria Medical Services skin camouflage clinic, helps patients with facial disfigurements, acne marks, scars, surgical wounds and other skin conditions.

After running the service in the county for a number of years, it was set to be disbanded meaning Cumbria would be without a clinic.

Once referred, a skin camouflage appointment is an opportunity to try products and see if they might be a helpful option to use on marks and scars on the skin.

The specialist make-up products can be used to reduce the appearance of a mark, scar or skin conditions and throughout the appointment, practitioner Pauline Bibby is able to talk to people about their concerns and provide practical advice.

Many people with a visible difference can struggle with social anxiety and low confidence, especially as they can experience staring, comments, or unwanted attention.

The specialist service is there for people with marks, scars and skin conditions and is seen by many as a vital service to help people with other issues.

Anita Wilkinson, from Cumbria Medical Services, is pleased that the service will be kept in the county.

She said: “Pauline has been doing this for many years now and originally it was with the Red Cross when they were running the scheme then it moved over to Changing Faces, which is a national charity, as a volunteer

“She has been running the camouflage clinics for patients in Cumbria who have been referred from GPs or dermatologists.

“The work that Changing Faces have been doing is still continuing but they have been restructuring and they have created big hubs in big cities where people can now go for the clinics which doesn’t really suit Cumbrian people as the closest to us would be either Newcastle or Manchester, so it is quite a long way to travel and we really felt it would be useful to keep these clinics in Cumbria, more locally for people who are in need of these type of clinics.

“Pauline approached us to see if we would be interested in helping to support her and help to continue to run them under the umbrella of Cumbria Medical Services, as we already referred through to her as we run demonology services.

“We were really happy to do that and we will be running our first clinic in February.”

Offering the only service of its kind in the county, Pauline, said: “When I started in 2008 I had a clinic in Carlisle and people from the west of the county would struggle to get to the appointments.

“I approached Maryport health centre and they very kindly let me use one of their rooms so I could do what I had been doing in Carlisle.

“It was an absolute shock when I found out in November that they were going to have these hubs. I thought if people can’t get to Carlisle how are they going to Newcastle?

“If I hadn’t have this opportunity I would have retired and I would have had to abandon it. I couldn’t have carried on without support. I’m really grateful Cumbria Medical Services were able to help.

“I started by chance. I went to Rheged and they had a presentation on which involved the Red Cross and Social services.

“Red Cross had a display of the camouflage and I was fascinated and I approached the member of staff to ask if they had a space for me and they didn’t at the time. Then in 2008 they had a space and I said I would like to train and that’s when I started.

“It has been amazing there is such a variety of people from a five-year-old - who is just starting school and has a big birthmark and their mother is worried about them being teased so we teach them to put the product on - to an 80-year-old who has got fed up of going to family meetings because they have a red nose and it has nothing to do with alcohol, it is rosacea and they’re fed up of family teasing them.

“To be able to have something that these people can put on is amazing.”