Hair loss

Read the moving story of eight-year-old alopecia sufferer Nikkita and find out more about the hair loss disease

All eight-year-old Nikkita Gibson wants for Christmas is "to have long hair like a princess".

But, at a cost of £1,500 her mum, Louise Gibson, knows it's too expensive. GMTV are trying to help make her Christmas wish come true.

Louise's story

Louise was diagnosed with alopecia when she was just nine.

"Every morning I'd wake up to find clumps on my pillow, the slightest tug would make it come out in handfuls and soon there were bald patches all over my head," she said.

She was referred to a dermatologist but was told little could be done. When she was 17 she met her 'soulmate', Ian, and two years later Nikkita was born.

"She was beautiful and made me forget about my hair for a while," Louise added.

"But the hair loss didn't stop and by the time I was 20 I was completely bald. Even my eyebrows and eyelashes were gone."

Even worse

Just as Louise was coming to terms with her condition, she was faced with a new problem - little Nikkita started to lose her hair too.

"One morning I was brushing her hair and I noticed a bald patch the size of a 50p piece on the crown of her head," she said.

Within two weeks almost all of Nikkita's blonde hair was gone and the doctors confirmed she also had alopecia.

When the time came for Nikkita to start school, her mother became anxious that her daughter would face the same horrible comments that she had endured.

However, the teachers and children were amazing. One day Nikkita wore a wig and one of the little boys told her she looked like a princess.

Nikkita is now eight and is doing really well in school. Ian and Louise have two other children, Tia, five and Gabrielle, four and neither has alopecia.

She has been referred to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London and is having treatment - including a steroid lotion that will hopefully stimulate hair growth.

Sadly, she can't wear nylon wigs because she has eczema and although her family has begged the NHS for a "real" hair wig, they have been told that at around £1,500, it is too expensive.

Alopecia facts

• Alopecia is a hair loss disease affecting men, women and children of any age that often starts suddenly. 
• Alopecia Areata - patchy hair loss anywhere on the body.
• Alopecia Totalis - total loss of scalp hair.
• Alopecia Universalis - loss of all hair on the body.
• With alopecia, the body's immune system wrongly attacks the growing cells in the hair follicles. This stops them producing new hair and causes existing hair to fall out.
• Figures vary but it is believed around 1.7 per cent of the population will have some kind of alopecia in their lifetime.
• About 25% of patients have a family history of the disorder.

The exact cause of alopecia is presently not known, although it is generally agreed that it is a disease of the auto-immune system. In addition, there is believed to be a genetic component in some cases and some studies have shown a link with stress. 

For more advice on treatments for alopecia, click on the 'related articles'.