Surviving and thriving with ALOPECIA

One woman shares her experience of learning to live with hair loss

-  GILLIAN HARVEY

Alopecia is a condition in which the immune system attacks healthy hair follicles, causing hair loss. An estimated 15 in 10,000 people in the UK have the condition, which often occurs for the first time in childhood. Although alopecia is painless and it doesn’t cause physical discomfort, the hair loss may cause emotional distress.

This is something Lesley Walsh, 53, knows only too well. In 2013, she developed alopecia and can still recall vividly the first time she realised she was losing her hair.

‘I was watching TV in December 2013. I reached back to gather my hair into a ponytail and my fingers touched a patch of smooth, hairless skin, above my normal hairline,’ says Lesley. ‘Without telling anyone, I raced to my bedroom. Using a mirror, I discovered I had a bald patch of scalp about 3cm wide at the back of my head.’

Her GP referred her to a dermatologist in January 2014, who diagnosed alopecia. ‘She offered me steroid creams, but told me they might not work,’ says Lesley. ‘I was devastated.’

Despite reassurances from her husband Jerry, then 46, and comforting cuddles from her four-year-old son Alexander, Lesley felt her confidence plummet and took to covering her hair loss up with a hat. ‘We ran our own business refurbishing alloy wheels at the time,’ she says. ‘So I was lucky that I could wear what I wanted to work.’