Miss Delaware Kayla Martell helps raise awareness of alopecia areata

About five million people in the United States - about 2 percent of the population - have the condition

Sept 2010

The bald spot was discovered one night as Beth Breslow, of Collegeville, gave her daughter Melaina a bath. It was a small, hairless patch amid the 2-year-old's sweep of shoulder-length, dark-blond hair.

Within four months, Melaina was bald, and the subject of stares and whispers on the street. What followed was a crippling shyness that often makes Melaina, now 4, hide behind her parents in public.

Melaina has a severe form of an autoimmune disease that causes partial or total hair loss when the body mistakenly attacks the hair follicles.

Broadly known as alopecia areata, the disease typically starts in childhood, a difficult time for youngsters also dealing with the social and emotional tumult of new schools, new friends, and the tween and teenage years.

"I tell young girls, 'If you let other people bring you down, you're letting them win,' " said Kayla Martell, 22, the current Miss Delaware.

Martell, of Milford, was diagnosed with alopecia areata at 10; she had lost all of her hair by age 18. She won the Miss Delaware crown in June while wearing a wig and will compete for the Miss America title in January.

On Sept. 12, Martell, sans wig, was one of several hundred people who attended a dog walk and raffle in Collegeville to help raise money for alopecia areata research. Breslow and her husband, Stephen, say they organized the event as part of their effort to accept their daughter's condition.

About five million people in the United States - about 2 percent of the population - have the condition, said Lisa Butler, of the National Alopecia Areata Foundation. Some lose patches of hair on the head; others lose every hair on the body.

There is no cure, and treatments have limited success, said Jeffrey Miller, professor of dermatology at the Pennsylvania State University Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey. But recent research identifying eight genes that contribute to the disease could be a groundbreaking step toward a cure, Miller said. Alopecia areata also is likely triggered by environmental factors.

For young people, having the disease sometimes means being teased and bullied by peers, and having their situation belittled by adults who say, "It's only hair," said Jeff Woytovich, founder of the Children's Alopecia Project (CAP) in Reading.

He founded the organization in 2004 after his daughter Maddie, now 12, was diagnosed. He and his wife, Betsy, looked for support groups and found few resources for children with alopecia areata.

CAP focuses on making sure children never doubt their self-worth in a world where people are judged by appearance.

"Self-esteem is first and foremost," Betsy Woytovich said.

About 600 families are registered with the group, which has branches in six states. It offers meetings, online chats, and information, and over the summer it hosted its first Camp Alopeciapalooza in the Poconos.

CAP member Noah Baldwin, 10, of Drexel Hill, lost his hair - and some self-confidence - when he was 8, but he says acceptance of his condition brought back his self-assurance.

Alex Poloway, 10, has been teased, but she says she understands the stares and funny faces.

"[My condition] really is strange," said Alex, of Spring City, who arrived at the Sept. 12 event wearing a cap with hair attached.

Sometimes the youngsters handle the situation better than their parents, who worry about their children's future, and who are dealing with their own guilt.

"You're supposed to fix everything for your child," said Alex's mother, Flora Poloway.

Parents often turn to creams, nutritional supplements, wigs, hats, and scarves, all the while wondering whether they're conveying an underlying message that their children's appearance isn't good enough.

Seventh grader Maddie Woytovich, who hopes for a career in fashion, has wigs that she enjoys wearing and styling at home, but she takes them off when she leaves the house.

"Because this is who I am," she said.

For Martell, a wig may have made the difference between a win and another pageant defeat.

After three years of competing without a wig - and losing - a conflicted Martell finally opted to wear one when a pageant judge suggested it.

She wasn't selling out, she reasoned, but going after her dream despite her disease. In June, Martell won, selecting the work of the National Alopecia Areata Foundation as the cause she will promote.

Martell lives most of her life without the wig, however.

"This way," she said, "young girls know that I'm not ashamed of it."

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