Alopecia - a disease of the spirit

In a recent newspaper article, the question posed was whether cosmetic tattooes should be covered by health insurance.

 http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/jul/06/cosmetic-tattoos-nhs

It is an interesting debate, as in many conditions, the psychological impact is deeper and harder to heal than the physical one.

It is reported that one of the biggest fears of a cancer patient, is that they will lose their hair. I think we can all understand that on some level.

For an alopecian, the loss of eyebrows and eyelashes is very traumatic. I remember researching eyelash transplants when I first lost mine. This is no longer something I would consider, yet in the early stages, the loss of facial hair was very scary. I could not consider being without them.

I also remember the look of my face when I had no eyebrows, I could see nothing else, except sheer ugly. I felt naked and faceless. It was one of the dark times.

Being brave enough to take the plunge and get tattooed eyebrows, was life changing. It really was. I no longer needed to worry about one of them rubbing off, or getting smudged. They are now always there and in place. Yes they fade, but that is the least of my problems.

So should this be cosmetic intervention be reimbursed? Well I feel there is a case for it.

Alopecia is a disease of the spirit and not of the body, so drugs can not help, but reinstoring the pysche can. So if having a tattoo in the place of eyebrows reinforces the pysche and gives the person a bit of their life back, surely society can play a role in funding that.