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PrintMedical Reports: Bald & Beautiful
Posted: 12/07/12
Reported by:
Producer:
Janna Owen
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Every woman wants long and luxurious hair, but imagine having that one day and the next you're bald. It happened to one local woman who is now showing us women can be bald and beautiful. 7's Christine Cruz has the story.
WSVN -- Deirdre Nero's hair was her crowning glory.
Deirdre Nero: "I just had so much hair. I had curly, long thick hair."
Then at 21, she noticed something strange, a bald spot.
Deirdre Nero: "I flipped it over and I saw it was maybe about the size of a 50 cent piece. Perfectly smooth and round."
Little by little she started to lose her hair.
Deirdre Nero: "And I was like Ahh...I just like freaked out."
Deirdre was diagnosed with alopecia areata.
Deirdre Nero: "I had never heard of it. I didn't know what it was."
Dr. Cynthia Golomb: "Alopecia Areata, what Deirdre suffers from, only affects 1 to 2 percent of the United States population."
Dermatologist Cynthia Golomb says alopecia areata is an auto-immune disorder that causes the hair to fall out.
Dr. Cynthia Golomb: "The immune system attacks the hair follicles."
It can affect hair all over the body.
Dr. Cynthia Golomb: "You can just lose the hair on the scalp or it can involve all the hair bearing areas, including the eyebrows and the eyelashes."
When that happened to Deirdre it was devastating.
Deirdre Nero: "When you look in the mirror and you see yourself for the first time without eyebrows, you're like wow."
The other part that was tough for her, people thinking she was sick.
Deirdre Nero: "I get a lot of how's your chemo going? And I'm like, I don't have cancer I have alopecia."
Her sister Aria felt helpless as she watched what her little sis was going through.
Aria Nero: "How do you help this person deal with it when it's not happening to you?"
So the two came up with an idea to help educate others about alopecia.
Aria Nero: "Let's make an earring line, that's how you can get out there and tell everybody you can be bald, you can be beautiful."
Deirdre, an attorney and Aria a jewelry designer came up with an earring line called BALD.
"It's an acronym, BALD which stands for Bad Ass Lawyer and Designer."
The one of a kind earrings are designed to make women with hair loss look and feel beautiful!
"You don't need to have a big head of hair to be beautiful, to be feminine."
In fact, starting this line made Deirdre feel so much better about herself she stopped wearing her wig.
"I don't know if I'll ever be used to it but I am more accepting of myself now."
That's the message she wants to send to all women.
"You don't have to hide, you can just be yourself."
Christine Cruz: We're told there are some treatment options, but there is no cure for alopecia. To check out the BALD line or to learn more about alopecia log onto www.wsvn.com
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
www.baldjewelry.com
www.arianero.com
Facebook/bald jewelry
The National Alopecia Areata Foundation or NAAF:
www.naaf.org
Deirdre Nero: "I just had so much hair. I had curly, long thick hair."
Then at 21, she noticed something strange, a bald spot.
Deirdre Nero: "I flipped it over and I saw it was maybe about the size of a 50 cent piece. Perfectly smooth and round."
Little by little she started to lose her hair.
Deirdre Nero: "And I was like Ahh...I just like freaked out."
Deirdre was diagnosed with alopecia areata.
Deirdre Nero: "I had never heard of it. I didn't know what it was."
Dr. Cynthia Golomb: "Alopecia Areata, what Deirdre suffers from, only affects 1 to 2 percent of the United States population."
Dermatologist Cynthia Golomb says alopecia areata is an auto-immune disorder that causes the hair to fall out.
Dr. Cynthia Golomb: "The immune system attacks the hair follicles."
It can affect hair all over the body.
Dr. Cynthia Golomb: "You can just lose the hair on the scalp or it can involve all the hair bearing areas, including the eyebrows and the eyelashes."
When that happened to Deirdre it was devastating.
Deirdre Nero: "When you look in the mirror and you see yourself for the first time without eyebrows, you're like wow."
The other part that was tough for her, people thinking she was sick.
Deirdre Nero: "I get a lot of how's your chemo going? And I'm like, I don't have cancer I have alopecia."
Her sister Aria felt helpless as she watched what her little sis was going through.
Aria Nero: "How do you help this person deal with it when it's not happening to you?"
So the two came up with an idea to help educate others about alopecia.
Aria Nero: "Let's make an earring line, that's how you can get out there and tell everybody you can be bald, you can be beautiful."
Deirdre, an attorney and Aria a jewelry designer came up with an earring line called BALD.
"It's an acronym, BALD which stands for Bad Ass Lawyer and Designer."
The one of a kind earrings are designed to make women with hair loss look and feel beautiful!
"You don't need to have a big head of hair to be beautiful, to be feminine."
In fact, starting this line made Deirdre feel so much better about herself she stopped wearing her wig.
"I don't know if I'll ever be used to it but I am more accepting of myself now."
That's the message she wants to send to all women.
"You don't have to hide, you can just be yourself."
Christine Cruz: We're told there are some treatment options, but there is no cure for alopecia. To check out the BALD line or to learn more about alopecia log onto www.wsvn.com
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
www.baldjewelry.com
www.arianero.com
Facebook/bald jewelry
The National Alopecia Areata Foundation or NAAF:
www.naaf.org