By the Daily Mail
A young woman has claimed that catching covid eight times left her bald and revealed the courage it has taken her to leave the house without a wig.
Lydia Morley, 23, from Newport, Wales, first noticed her long, thick brown hair thinning and falling out in the shower last November.
'Whenever I'd brush my hair in the shower, I'd have proper clumps come out,' Lydia said. 'It was getting to the point where it was a little bit strange.'
After her father noticed a bald patch on the back of her head in January of this year, Lydia booked an appointment with the GP and was diagnosed with alopecia areata - a disease that occurs when the immune system attacks hair follicles causing them to fall out.
Doctors initially put the diagnosis down to stress but Lydia, who claims to be the 'least stressed person ever', now believes her alopecia could be caused by long covid.
Lydia wears a platinum blonde wig which is her 'favourite' as it is 'so different' to how her hair was before
The vintage shop supervisor said she has suffered eight bouts of covid since 2020.
She said: 'I think after having it so many times my immune system has just been dampened and dampened.
'I had covid at the end of November for the eighth time and then I started seeing my hair falling out after that.'
Although doctors agreed that long covid could be the cause, they emphasised that alopecia is not fully understood.
Advice on the NHS said: 'Hair is lost because it is affected by inflammation. The cause of this inflammation is unknown but it is thought that the immune system, the natural defence which normally protects the body from infections and other diseases, may attack the growing hair.
'Why this might happen is not fully understood, nor is it known why only localised areas are affected and why the hair usually regrows again.'
Lydia said: 'The doctors did mention that it could be [covid] but alopecia is one of those things where they don't always know exactly why it happens.
'Personally I believe that and doctors did say that this could be a cause of the situation but they also said it could be a million other things too.'
Within five months of her diagnosis, Lydia lost 80 per cent of her hair and was unable to recognise herself in the mirror.
'I am a very outgoing person and it [the alopecia] really does take this away from you because people don't realise how much of their identity is the way they look.
'People like to say they don't care about looks or physical attributes but when you've got this stripped away from you it really does change the way that you see yourself.'
'As a girl it was really difficult for those weeks and months when it first fell out to when I had my head shaved.
'You don't feel like you're quite woman enough.'
It was only when Lydia decided to shave off her remaining locks for charity and go completely bald that she saw her confidence blossom.
'A full face of make-up with a bald head is a really good look on a woman and it has made me feel even more feminine.'
Since shaving all her hair off, Lydia said she is experiencing some regrowth.
'The regrowth journey is difficult as it doesn't all come through at the same time.
'It's tufty and some bits are longer and some bits are shorter.
'It's really positive signs of growth and it's amazing to see it is coming back through and has given me that extra bit of perseverance.
Culled from the Daily Mail. Read original story and more on the Daily Mail.
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