A 50-year-old Japanese woman, who was mocked for being “ugly” as a child, has shunned cosmetic surgery and spent 13 years taking more than 30,000 selfies to study make-up, skincare and fashion.

The ridiculing left Kozue Sakurada with deep emotional scars, but her persistence has inspired countless people online.

A male classmate once stared at her and repeated the word “ugly” to her face 10 times.

Other boys even made up a parody of a children’s song to mock her large nose.

By her early twenties, the trauma was so intense that if she saw someone covering their mouth to laugh on a train, she assumed they were laughing at her and would get off at the next stop in embarrassment.

The turning point came at the age of 37, after a heartbreaking break-up. Her then-boyfriend once looked at her and said: “If only you could be a bit prettier.”

Although she began trying to change her appearance to suit his preferences, about six months later, he still broke up with her.