When you travel or go into public at all, you don’t get much – if any – control over who else is out there with you.

Most days, we all do our best to get along and get to our destinations.

OP is more self-conscious than ever after receiving a bad facial injury that’s led to scarring.

I sustained very bad injuries to my face this month. I’m in the stage of healing when the scar tissue has formed, but it’s still very tender “new skin”.

I’m going to have very obvious facial scarring for the rest of my life. The injury starts about an inch above my hairline, goes down over my brow so that on part, hair will not grow.

It continues down my cheek where it is deepest; I’ll always probably have an indentation in the fullest part of my cheek. Then it continues to my jawline.

It’s healing but looks pretty gnarly still.

In some ways it’s OK. I’m happy it’s just cosmetic damage. My friends are super reassuring, telling me how badass and sick it’s gonna look. They say I’m still as hot as ever, now a little more sexy and mysterious lol.

But in some ways it really sucks… I know that I’m always gonna be seen first as “the girl with the scar” and it feels especially bad when people look at me differently.

This week, I had to fly home for a family thing; it was a plan I’d made long before my injury. I wasn’t really looking forward to the pity or people making a big deal of it; I’d rather it not be acknowledged.

I’d also met with my dermatologist who said that I was at the stage of scar tissue formation that I no longer should be dressing the wounds; the skin was healing and instead I needed to be applying topical cream and Vaseline to keep the site clean and moist.

It also looks a bit ugly; the building scar tissue is very red and tender, and with the Vaseline over it, looks slick and shiny.

When on an airplane, she woke up to a young child crying and the dad asking her to cover her face.

So I get on this flight; I have the window seat and I put on my headphones and drift off to sleep when the plane is still boarding.

I wake up to this kid, maybe 4 years old, sat next to me, throwing a tantrum. I didn’t catch the first part of it and I honestly couldn’t understand what he was yelling about…

His father said to me, “Can you cover that injury?”

I said that my dermatologist recommends I don’t, so no I don’t think I will.

He started snapping at me saying “there is no need to be so rude. That injury is graphic and it’s scaring my little one.”

She stood up for herself.

I said “this is my face. The only damn face I’ve got. It sucks being told I’m so ugly I can’t show my goddamn face in public.”

He started to backtrack saying “just until it’s healed” and I said “it’ll always be with me. Maybe teach some compassion and respect instead of telling a girl half your age what you think about her face. That’s rude.

They changed seats.

He actually got up after that and I think went to a stewardess about a seat change because a young couple came to sit next to me on a few minutes instead.

I’ve gotta admit I felt so low that I put on my sunglasses and had a quiet cry for a few minutes.

AITA for not covering my healing scar, and for being confrontational about it?

Now, she’s asking Reddit whether or not she should have been less confrontational.

The top comment cannot figure out why someone would act this way in public.

This person says the managing of the child’s feelings was the dad’s responsibility, not OP.

They’re honestly appalled.

This commenter says the dad had so many other options.

Dad totally missed a teaching moment.

No one said parenting is easy.

But you absolutely have to teach them how to behave in public.

If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.