A British mother captured a photo of her 12-year-old daughter breaking down in tears after losing half a head of hair in less than a year to alopecia.
Lola Robertson, from the town of Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England, has lost almost all of her stunning long hair to the condition after huge clumps of her hair started falling out last summer.
The girl’s hairline has completely vanished despite trying several steroid creams and lotions prescribed by her doctor. Though Lola has had the condition since the age of 5, Charlotte says her daughter’s alopecia has got much worse in the last year.
“I had to take a picture to show people how bad it is. She felt particularly sad because of the amount of hair she has lost in such a short space of time,” Charlotte said.
“I put the picture on Facebook to ask for help. It was my last resort. Posting a picture and exposing Lola was the final step for us.”
Charlotte, along with Lola’s dad, David Robertson, 34, is desperate for help and wants to raise awareness of the upsetting condition, which has plagued their daughter since she was 5.
The family is worried their daughter may become the victim of bullying as she goes into her first year at secondary school.
“No one in the family has alopecia. Lola is the first so I had never really heard much about it,” said Charlotte, who also has a 7-year-old daughter with David.
“In the beginning, Lola had a £2-sized bald patch behind her ear which would grow back, and because it was behind her ear, she could always hide it and it didn’t affect her,” she said.
“In the past year, she’s gone from having a few bald patches to losing half a head of hair. She doesn’t have a hairline and the top of her head is entirely bald.”
Lola had been able to cover the bald patch with the rest of her hair, but these spots began getting bigger last year, and now her hairline has completely vanished.
Having just gone into secondary school, Lola’s parents fear she may be the target of bullying and are fundraising to get her several specialist wigs.
Charlotte added: “She’s always had an amazing network of friends but now she’s gone into secondary school, it’s a whole new world and I worry that she could be bullied in the future.
“She’s feeling a bit lost. She’s always been a really upbeat, happy, and confident girl but I am concerned that this amount of hair loss will really start to affect her as she’s getting older.”
Lola is now looking at the wigs she can use and exploring new hairstyles.
Charlotte said: “Since sharing the picture and story on Facebook, I have received more information in the past week than I have in the past seven years that Lola has been diagnosed.
“She’s quite optimistic so she always finds a positive way at looking at it, like wearing new wigs and having new hairstyles.
“The support and reaction has been amazing and we’re definitely going to go back to the doctors and get some more tests done.
“The Little Princess Trust has been incredible and has already given two wigs to Lola which will really increase her confidence.
“We just want more awareness out there. There’s not a lot of information and it’s a difficult condition to live with.”
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