The National Alopecia Areata Foundation says that there is more than a 90% chance you will not pass alopecia on to your child. What a relief!
I have to admit, that I am constantly looking for signs of balding whilst brushing my daughters' hair.
If there is more hair in the hairbrush, or on the floor than what I deem normal, I get nervous. I offer to brush their hair once more, with the motive of checking for thinning or bald spots.
It is one thing having no hair yourself, but for your kids, to me that seems like it would be unbearable. I do know, that we would make it work and find solutions, but really this would be a tough one.
Personally, I was 30 when I started to lose my hair. I had gotten through school and had my first dates. I had even been married for a few years. So in many ways, I had it easy when I got alopecia. But a child at school, I am not sure how I would cope with that.
Yet a few weeks ago, when chatting to a lovely colleague, she told me her son at a very young age, lost all his hair. She showed me, proudly, a photo of him. I have to say, he was gorgeous. All I saw was his beautiful eyes. His cute little smile. I hardly noticed the fact that he had no hair. All I could see, was a handsome little boy, with a radiance around him. In fact, he looked like he was meant to be that way. He was just, quite simply, perfect.
So when I read these statistics, I felt better about the genetics of alopecia. However, it also made me realize, that I do carry a burden with me, a burden of me passing alopecia on to my girls. Up until this point, I had not been aware that I been stressing about this, albeit quietly.
So now that I have this awareness and these statistics, I will make a conscious effort to stop this obsession and realize that the chances are on our side. Even if my girls do inherit this condition, I am safe in the knowledge that their inner and outer beauty will be enough to carry them through.
Just like my colleagues beautiful little boy.
No comments:
Post a Comment