Alopecia in the Media

Woman Magazine

My Daughter Went Bald When She Was 6 - by Tasmin Smith

Lisa was shocked when she found patches on little Lauren's scalp. There was a name for it-but was there a cure?

Like most little girls, Lisa Ranst's daughter Lauren loves putting pretty clips in her hair. But eight months ago Lauren, now seven, was practically bald. She'd also lost all her eyelashes from her left eye after suffering from alopecia.

Although her hair is now growing back, it was a distressing experience for Lauren and her family. "It was awful watching my beautiful little girl losing all her hair and not being able to do anything about it," says Lisa, 35. "We were really afraid how Lauren would react but she was very brave and seemed to take it in her stride."

Lisa first noticed there was something wrong with Lauren's hair a year ago, when she discovered two penny-sized bald patches on either side of her head. At first Lisa didn't worry about it, thinking she'd probably pulled Lauren's hair too tight when she was putting it into a ponytail. However, when the bald patches started spreading around the back of her head, she took Lauren to her GP. He diagnosed alopecia arearta, which affects eight million people in the UK, including about two million children. It's usually triggered by a physical trauma caused by an injury or allergy, or an emotional upset-but can also be hereditary.

"It came as a complete shock," says Lisa. "I'd heard about alopecia but didn't think children as young as Lauren got it. I was worried about how much worse it would get.

The only cause Lisa and her husband Steve could imagine was when Lauren had suffered a fright while in the sea at Bognor Regis the previous summer. "She fell out of her rubber ring and went underwater. She can't swim so it was a shock but she was soon paddling happily again," explains Lisa. "It didn't seem significant at the time but now it makes us worry about other upsets which might set off another attack in the future".

Lisa's GP mentioned that steroids sometimes help hair grow and arranged for Lauren to visit a specialist in Chichester, where the family lives. But not wanting to wait six months for the appointment and not keen on giving Lauren steroids, Lisa took her to the hairdresser's to see if they could suggest anything. "I thought cutting her hair might help as it was becoming unmanageable. Every time I washed or brushed it, great clumps came out," says Lisa. "I didn't say anything to Lauren as I didn't want to upset her. She couldn't see how bad the patches were because they were at the back and luckily she was really excited about having her hair cut."

The hair dresser told Lisa about a local herbalist called Elias Bouras, who had developed a hair growth cream which had produced some good results. Lisa got in touch and Elias visited the family in February. "He said it was very rare for a child under the age of 12 to get alopecia and there was no guarantee that Lauren's hair would grow back at all. He also warned us that the cream might take some time to have an effect."

Far from getting better, however, the hair loss got worse. Lisa religiously rubbed the cream into the bald patches but by March Lauren had lost most of her hair and also the lashes of her left eye. "I was at my wits end," recalls Lisa. "I'd done everything I could to encourage her hair to grow back. I even changed her diet so she had lots of milk products and multivitamins for calcium and zinc which is good for hair." "I'd been warned not to expect any immediate results but by now I was giving up hope. By the end of March, Lauren's hair was in the sink, the bath, the vacuum cleaner and all over her pillow in the morning".

Sometimes the upset was too much and Lauren would burst into tears and ask her mum why her hair was falling out. Lisa tried to be as cheerful as possible, telling her that it would grow back twice as beautiful and strong. But it wasn't easy and when Lisa was on her own she'd often cry. Things got even worse when Lisa heard from other parents that some of the older children at Lauren' school were teasing her about being a "baldy".

"I bought her a hat to wear but although she liked it, she said it was itchy and took it off as soon as she got into school. She never said a word about being teased until I asked her about it. She said the other children were silly so she ignored them."

Thankfully, by the middle of April Lauren's hair loss had stopped. A few weeks later Lisa was delighted to discover new hair sprouting over the bald patches. When she did eventually take Lauren to a specialist in Chichester, he said it was best if they carried on using the cream they already had-which costs £250 for three months' supply-as it was obviously having an effect.

"I've treated dozens of children with Lauren's condition," says Elias. "My cream takes a while to work but eventually the hair does grow back."

Now, eight months later, Lauren has finally made an almost perfect recovery. She still has short spiky patches of hair on the top of her head but otherwise you wouldn't know that there had been anything wrong with her at all. She'll have to continue the treatment until the end of this month, by which time her hair should have grown back completely. "I was so excited when I saw the little tufts of new hair," says Lisa.

"We don't know if if Lauren's likely to get alopecia again in the future-she might have it as an adverse reaction to stress-all we can do is wait and see". "I was sad when my hair came out but I had a nice hat," adds Lauren, tucking her hair behind her ears. "Now it's going to grow very long so I can have it in a ponytail".

Alopecia Alarm - I am Terrified of Going Bald

By Sarah Brewer, the GP Who Looks at Alternatives

DEAR DOCTOR - I have suffered from alopecia for several years. Neither my doctor nor several dermatologists have been able to help and I am terrified the bald patch is going to spread even further. Can any natural treatments help?

Alopecia areata is a non-scarring, inflammatory condition in which the hair follicles switch off and lie dormant. The cause is not known, although an imbalance of enzymes responsible for the production of hair fibre and an abnormal T-lymphocyte immune response are implicated.

Nutrient deficiencies - especially of iron - can play a role and several supplements designed to help hairloss are now available in Health food shops and Chemists.

Elias Bouras, a Herbalist, has spent 10 years developing a topical cream, Calosol 4H, whose plant-based constituents can stimulate hair regrowth in both adults and children.

It has proved effective in treating alopecia areata, totalis and universalis and is believed to work by suppressing the localised abnormal immune response.