Teen reveals hairloss nightmare that nearly ruined her life

Mar 1 2009 by James Marley, Sunday Sun

EIGHT months ago Gemma Lewins was on the verge of quitting school and hiding away after her hair mysteriously fell out . . . but just look at her now!

The pretty teenager has revealed how she was heartbroken when she lost almost all of her hair last summer, and was ready to turn her back on her studies because of how she looked.

But the 16-year-old’s life has been transformed after a wig gave her back her confidence. And many of her school friends have had no idea that her impressive mane is not even her real hair . . . until now.

Gemma, of Oxclose, Washington, Tyne and Wear, first noticed something wrong when she was drying her hair one night in November 2007.

“I spotted a little bald patch. I showed my mam and dad and asked if they knew what it was, but none of us had any idea,” she said.

Deciding to keep an eye on it, Gemma’s life took a dramatic turn for the worse weeks later when her dad, Frank, was diagnosed with cancer and mum, Leanne, fell and broke her ankle.

Leanne explained: “It was a difficult time, and we wondered if the stress and worry took its toll on her by making it worse.

“We took her to the doctor and to see a dermatologist but no one knew why it was dropping out. It was obviously alopecia or a related condition, but there was nothing to tell us what was causing it, or even why.”

As Gemma embarked on her GCSEs at St Robert of Newminster School last summer, the extra stress accelerated the problem, and by August she was predominantly bald, except for a few clumps at the front.